A 46-year-old Bexar County man already free on bail in a child sex crime case was arrested again Friday, this time accused of using artificial intelligence to generate sexual images and videos from a photo of a teenage girl, the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office said. James Kenneth Rogers faces a new charge of possession of child pornography, which the sheriff’s office and local news reports describe as a second-degree felony. He has not been convicted.
The case so far
Rogers was first arrested July 8 on a charge of online solicitation of a minor. Sheriff’s investigators said he had been messaging an undercover deputy posing as an underage girl. He posted $50,000 bail and was released from the Bexar County jail on July 22, KSAT reported, citing county court records.
Investigators seized his cell phone at the time of that arrest. The sheriff’s office said a joint investigation with the U.S. Secret Service later turned up child sexual abuse material on the device, leading to Friday’s re-arrest.
Some of the images appeared to be stock photos from other parts of the world or material that had been sent to Rogers, the San Antonio Express-News reported, citing Sheriff Javier Salazar. Separately, the phone contained a candid photograph of a teenage girl the sheriff described as an acquaintance of Rogers’ own children. Investigators allege Rogers fed that photo into an AI program to produce sexual images and videos depicting her. Salazar said his office contacted the girl’s family.
“He’s got an extremely unhealthy and illegal obsession with young girls,” Salazar said.
Reports on Friday’s arrest did not include a bond amount on the new charge, a court date, or comment from an attorney for Rogers.
What the law actually says
Texas law addresses AI-made material directly. Put simply, the statute covers a picture built from a real, identifiable child’s face even when artificial intelligence created or altered the image itself. Penal Code Section 43.26, as rewritten by the Legislature in 2025, defines a “depiction of a child” to include a child who is “recognizable as an actual person by the person’s face, likeness, or other distinguishing characteristic, such as a unique birthmark or other recognizable feature,” and “whose image as a child younger than 18 years of age was used in creating, adapting, or modifying the visual material, including computer-generated visual material that was created, adapted, or modified using an artificial intelligence application or other computer software.”
A separate provision covers sexual depictions of a “computer-generated child,” defined as one created with AI or other software that “to a reasonable person is virtually indistinguishable from an actual child younger than 18 years of age.” The statute sets the degree of a possession offense by factors such as prior convictions and the number of depictions; reports on this case do not say which applies. A second-degree felony carries 2 to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000 on conviction, under Penal Code Section 12.33.
Federal law also covers such material. Under 18 U.S.C. Section 2256(8)(C), the federal definition of child pornography includes a visual depiction “created, adapted, or modified to appear that an identifiable minor is engaging in sexually explicit conduct” — language that covers so-called “morphed” images built from a real child’s face. A separate federal statute, 18 U.S.C. Section 1466A, applies to obscene depictions of child sexual abuse and states plainly that “it is not a required element of any offense under this section that the minor depicted actually exist” — meaning the law can apply even when the depicted child is not a real person. The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center warned in a March 2024 public advisory that federal law “prohibits the production, advertisement, transportation, distribution, receipt, sale, access with intent to view, and possession of any CSAM, including realistic computer-generated images.” No federal charge against Rogers has been reported; the Secret Service took part in the investigation with the sheriff’s office.
The sheriff’s broader complaint
Salazar also used the case to criticize what he called a lack of oversight on artificial intelligence tools. “There are people in our government, right now in office, trying to further deregulate these things to allow things like this to occur,” he said. The sheriff did not name specific officials or legislation.
How to report
The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center says anyone aware of child sexual abuse material, including images made with artificial intelligence, should report it to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s CyberTipline at 1-800-THE-LOST or www.cybertipline.org, or to the FBI at www.ic3.gov.