Utah man arrested after allegedly creating CSAM with AI, possibly storing up to 280 million images

COTTONWOOD HEIGHTS, Utah (ABC4) — A Utah man has been arrested for several felonies, after allegedly distributing and storing up to 280 million images involving child sexual abuse material (CSAM), including AI-generated photographs.

According to a probable cause affidavit from the police, Russell Kenneth Gatrell, 45, was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail on Tuesday, August 26. He is facing five counts of aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor, which are first degree felonies.

Between June 25th and June 27th, 2025, the Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force (CEHTTF) with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) reportedly received 139 files which were connected to an IP address in Cottonwood Heights.

Law Enforcement says the files included child sexual abuse material (CSAM) depicting the sexual abuse of prepubescent female children. CEHTTF alongside West Valley City Police executed a residential search warrant at Gatrell’s residence on August 26th, 2025.

Gatrell reportedly admitted to police that he had viewed, downloaded, and shared CSAM from his residence. He also allegedly stated that he had stored CSAM on a network storage drive containing up to 15 hard drives and estimated the total amount of CSAM could be over 100 gigabytes.

He further admitted “to having a sexual interest in female children aged 13-17 years old” and to using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to generate CSAM from stock images, according to the affidavit.

FBI computer scientists analyzed the AI software that Gatrell allegedly used to generate CSAM and “determined it was incredibly advanced”. That analysis also indicated that the stock images input into the AI software included identifiable children.

Law enforcement believes that Gatrell was storing CSAM across 280 terabytes of storage, which could store anywhere from 56 million to 280 million photographs. However, they note that more investigation is needed to determine the exact amount of CSAM Gatrell allegedly collected.

Each charge that Gatrell faces carries a penalty of five years to life in prison, and up to $10,000 in fines.