Melania Trump Praises First Conviction Under “Take It Down Act”, Prosecutors Detail AI Abuse Case

The First Lady of the United States, Melania Trump, has praised the “Take It Down” legislation after its first conviction. Melania Trump has championed the legislation, as she co-signed the bill with Donald Trump last year.

On April 7th, a 37-year-old man identified as James Strahler pleaded guilty in a U.S. District Court in Ohio for cyberstalking, producing obscene visual representations of child s--ual abuse, and publication of digital forensics, all of which were included as criminal activity under the “Take It Down Act”.

“Today marks the first conviction under the Take It Down Act, protecting victims from the nons--ual AI-generated s--ually explicit images, cyberstalking, and s--ual violence," Melania wrote on her social media X account. “Thank you, US Attorney Dominick S. Greace II, for protecting Americans from cybercrime in the new digital age,” her post on X further read.

Melania made a rare trip to Capitol Hill last year to lobby congressional lawmakers to pass the bill criminalizing the distribution of nons--ual imagery, which included revenge p--n and AI-generated material depicting child s--ual abuse. The law, which came to be known as the “Take it Down Act,” was not only advocated for by the first lady but also co-signed.

The Act cleared the House in a 409-2 vote and then passed by the Senate via unanimous vote.

The Take It Down Act mentions that anyone who commits acts such as cyberstalking, posting AI-generated images of child s--ual abuse, and posting s--ually non-consensual depraved images of anyone with their face, will be prosecuted. The perpetrators will face up to two years in federal prison if the images depict an adult and three years if the images depict a minor. Websites must also remove the content within 48 hours of the notification if the image violates the law, with enforcement delegated to the Federal Trade Commission.

The accused, Strahler, used more than 24 AI platforms and more than 100 AI web-based models on his phone to engage in a campaign of harassment between December 2024 and 2025, according to federal prosecutors. He sent harassing messages to at least six adult females, which included nude images of the victims, both real and AI-generated, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Ohio said.

Strahler allegedly used AI to create videos depicting at least one adult victim engaged in s--ual acts with her father, which he then distributed to the victim's co-workers. He also threatened the mothers of the victims that he would circulate explicit images of their daughters if they did not send him nude pictures, according to prosecutors. Strahler also repeatedly left voicemail messages for his victims of himself masturbating or threatening to assault them.

Strahler had allegedly created more than 700 images of both real victims and animated persons and posted them to a website dedicated to child s--ual abuse. Authorities found an additional 2,400 images and videos on his phone depicting nudity, morphed child s--ual abuse material, or violence.

“We believe Strahler is the first person to be convicted under the Take It Down Act,” US Attorney Dominick S. Greace said in a statement. “We will not tolerate the abhorrent practice of posting and publicizing AI-generated intimate images of real individuals without consent.

Strahler will be sentenced at a later date.