Richmond police investigating ‘sensitive images’ depicting Richmond-Burton students, possibly AI-generated

The Richmond Police Department is investigating the alleged creation and distribution of “sensitive images,” apparently depicting Richmond-Burton High School students, and is working with the McHenry County State’s Attorney on possible charges, according to an investigator with the department.

Those images may have been created using AI tools, according to the parent of one child whose depiction was distributed and who has spoken with district officials.

Parents were alerted to the situation just before 5 p.m. Monday via an email from Richmond-Burton High School Principal Mike Baird. In that email, Baird said the situation involves “sensitive images that appear to have been created and circulated on a computer.”

Once school staff were alerted to the incident, “we took immediate action by contacting law enforcement,” according to the email.

One parent who contacted the Northwest Herald said her teenage daughter discovered her image was involved when she was shown one of the photos Tuesday at school. The suspect or suspects “took images of the girls posted online from prom” to make an AI-generated nude image, said Stephanie Essex, a parent who lives in Richmond. Essex said she spoke to a school administrator about the incident.

While neither Richmond-Burton High School District 157 officials nor Richmond Police Sgt. Jennifer Fillicaro would confirm the alleged photos were AI-created, Essex said a school did confirm that on the phone with her.

Her daughter “has seen the photos. She feels so violated, it is so gross,” Essex said, adding she allowed her daughter to leave school after the girl was shown one of the images.

“I am furious that I am finding out because my daughter’s images are circulating around the school,” Essex said.

Fillicaro said she was contacting parents whose children’s photos are believed involved.

“I am reaching out to all of the parents who are involved with these victims so that they are aware,” Fillicaro said. “I am calling each and every parent and discussing with them directly. We are taking it very seriously.”

If a parent believes a photo of their child is part of this incident and Fillicaro has not contacted them yet, they should reach out to her at 815-678-4163, ext. 208, she added.

Richmond Police were alerted to the photos Monday afternoon and, because juveniles are involved, she could not provide much information, Fillicaro said. “We are working with the McHenry State’s Attorney about the matter.”

As the incident is an ongoing situation, the district will not comment further at this time, according to an email from Superintendent Thomas Lind.

A Crystal Lake cybersecurity expert said he believes that if multiple images are involved, they are undoubtedly created by AI as any other editing software can involve hundreds of hours of work and expertise.

Chris Klaus worked at a cyber defense lab at Western Kentucky University and currently owns a company that uses AI tools to write documents and online content for businesses. Klaus said that there are publicly available AI tools found on the internet that will take two photos and merge them seamlessly.

“You take this one that is innocuous and this photo that is pornographic” and tell the program to apply the pornographic “model” to the final result, Klaus said. There is photo editing software that can also merge photos but not as seamlessly or as quickly as AI. “There are open source tools ... that can do that kind of work but that takes more effort” than AI, Klaus said. In an online search, he found six online programs that offered AI-based face-swapping tools, Klaus said.

Parents, he added, would likely never know their child was making face-swapped images on the internet. “If your child is sending you an image or you are hearing audio or seeing video of your children and you are not sure ... try to contact the child. Don’t assume that it is true,” Klaus said.

In his letter to parents, Baird asked parents to “take this moment to engage in open conversations with your children about the potential dangers associated with social media and the permanent impact of decisions made online.”

Essex said that in her conversation with Baird, he reassured her that those depicted in the photos “didn’t do anything at all to cause this,” she said. “They took completely appropriate photos and turned it into something else.”