Source: US FBI
Tampa, Florida – U.S. District Judge Thomas P. Barber has sentenced Daniel Weatherly (42, Brownwood, TX) to two years in federal prison for possession of an obscene visual depiction of a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct. The court also ordered Weatherly to serve three years of supervised release and to have no contact with minors following his prison sentence. Weatherly pleaded guilty on January 8, 2025.
According to court documents, Weatherly used an application on his cellphone to create “AI” images of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct. The application specifically allowed users to create high-quality visuals based upon word prompts, which Weatherly used to specify exactly what child sexual abuse images he desired. Weatherly’s prompts included age ranges between five and eight years old engaging in various sexual activity.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation with substantial assistance from the North Port Police Department. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Erin Claire Favorit and Abigail K. King.
This is another case brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.