A child psychiatrist in Charlotte, North Carolina, was sentenced to 40 years’ imprisonment for secretly making indecent videos of children and generating child pornography using artificial intelligence, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of North Carolina announced Wednesday.
According to a news release from the U.S. attorney’s office, David Tatum’s prison sentence will be followed by 30 years of supervised release.
The 41-year-old former psychiatrist will also be required to register as a sex offender wherever he lives and works.
A child psychiatrist in NC has been sentenced to 40yrs in prison for using AI to create child pornography.
He had viewed over 1k files & also secretly recorded his 15yr old cousin & other minor family members while they were undressing/showering.
Meet Dr. David Tatum. pic.twitter.com/mut3V62afk
— dara faye (@darafaye) November 11, 2023
Under the Amy, Vicky, and Andy Child Pornography Victim Assistance Act, Tatum will also have to pay restitution, a $100 assessment for each count of conviction, and a $99,000 special assessment, the attorney’s office said.
According to evidence presented to the court, Tatum had allegedly recorded a minor while she was undressing and bathing around July 2016, WCNC-TV reported.
Tatum also had access to other videos and images of sexually exploited children, the news station reported.
“It is horrific to believe anyone would secretly record children undressing and showering for their own sexual gratification. And when the evidence proves that person is a doctor entrusted to help children through difficult mental health situations, it is inconceivable,” FBI Charlotte Special Agent in Charge Robert DeWitt said, according to the news release.
“The FBI will never stop working to put predators like Tatum behind bars for a very long time,” DeWitt further stated.
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One of Tatum’s victims had just reached the age of 18 five days before he recorded them during an outpatient visit, prosecutors said, according to WCNC-TV.
The former psychiatrist also used “deep fake” websites to alter images of children who were already clothed to make them explicit, the New York Post reported.
Some of the photos Tatum digitally altered to sexualize them included those of a school dance and a first day of school photo, officials said, according to the Post.
“As a child psychiatrist, Tatum knew the damaging, long-lasting impact sexual exploitation has on the wellbeing of victimized children. Regardless, he engaged in the depraved practice of using secret recordings of his victims to create illicit images and videos of them,” said U.S. Attorney Dena J. King.
“Tatum also misused artificial intelligence in the worst possible way: to victimize children. Today’s 40-year sentence underscores our efforts to do all we can to bring justice to child victims,” King further stated.
“As the field of artificial intelligence advances, my office is committed to prosecuting predators who seek to exploit this technology to inflict harm on children,” the attorney added.
When Tatum was caught, authorities found him with more than 1,000 child pornography titles, including videos with the words “PTHC” or pre-teen hardcore on them, prosecutors said, according to the Post.
Tatum was found guilty of one count of child pornography production, one count of child pornography transportation, and one count of child pornography possession by a federal jury in Charlotte on May 4, 2023, the Department of Justice said.
He will soon be transferred to the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ custody.
