Bentonville photographer pleads not guilty to charges he used AI to create sexually explicit ...

BENTONVILLE -- A Bentonville photographer pleaded not guilty Monday to charges accusing him of using artificial intelligence to create child sexual abuse material.

Russell Bloodworth, 43, is charged with 100 counts of pandering or possessing visual or print medium depicting sexually explicit conduct involving a child, 100 counts of unlawful creation or distribution of deepfake visual material, and engaging children in sexually explicit conduct for use in visual or print medium. He entered his plea at an arraignment before Benton County Circuit Judge Robin Green.

Bentonville police arrested Bloodworth last month. He is free on $350,000 bond , but must wear a monitoring unit and is prohibited from having with any children except his biological children.

Bentonville police received a tip June 8 related to child sexual abuse material being generated online by someone using Grok AI, according to a news release from the Bentonville Police Department. The investigation determined the account to be registered to Bloodworth, who owns Russell Bloodworth Photography, the release states.

A Bentonville police detective reviewed images and found a photo taken of a girl for a professional photography shoot. The detective later identified her as part of Bloodworth's summer camp photography classes hosted at Thaden School , according to a probable cause affidavit.

The detective saw 12 images that appeared to be the result of someone using AI prompts to pose children and remove portions of their clothing, thus creating sexually explicit images of them, the affidavit states. The detective reported several of the images were indistinguishable from real images.

Police found a hidden folder on Bloodworth's cellphone containing more than 1,700 images and videos, most of which appeared to be of prepubescent and pubescent females in various sexual poses, multiple videos showing the performance of sex acts, and all in various stages of dress, according to the affidavit.

"A few of the images I observed were overtly AI, but most appeared to be so realistic, I was not confident in assessing the origin of the photos without digital forensic laboratory supported software," the detective wrote in the affidavit.

Police seized more than 60 devices capable of storing digital evidence, the affidavit states.

Bloodworth faces 10 to 40 years or life imprisonment if convicted of the engaging children charge. He faces from three to 10 years in prison if convicted of each count of the pandering charge, and he could be sentenced up to year in jail if convicted of the misdemeanor deepfake charges.

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