DEKALB COUNTY (WGN) — A college student in Illinois is facing felony charges after authorities said they uncovered thousands of images of suspected child sex abuse material on electronic devices taken from his dorm room last month.
According to the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office, 19-year-old Michael Erickson, a current student at Northern Illinois University, has been charged with 21 felonies, including production of child pornography, dissemination of child pornography and possession of child pornography.
Police received tip from National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
The investigation began in April when local police received a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Further investigation then identified Erickson as a potential offender.
Officers later obtained a search warrant for Erickson’s dorm room and his electronics. Authorities executed the warrant on May 1, and during the search, they seized two cell phones and a computer.
Investigators said they found more than 20,000 images of suspected child sexual abuse material, including videos and AI deepfake photos, on the electronic devices they seized.
“You just have a female taking a picture at a beach, at a breakfast place in a Halloween costume,” said Sean Conlon, a detective with the Batavia Police Department. “Any place that they can use this picture, they can make it a deepfake, and they can take the clothing off.”
Victim says suspect has ‘been doing it for a really long time’
During a forensic investigation of the devices, authorities determined the alleged criminal offenses had occurred in DeKalb County, and that most of the victims involved in this case went to Batavia High School with Erickson, who were girls between the ages of 13 and 17 at the time the photos were taken.
“There was one from when I was 15. I’m almost 20 years old now,” one victim told NewsNation affiliate WGN. “There was one from three months ago. He’s been doing it for a really long time … I kind of just broke down and started crying, because I was pretty upset. I didn’t really understand what was happening.”
This woman, who WGN has elected not to identify, was contacted by police in April, who told her she was one of the victims.
Court documents show Erickson had a conversation with someone over Snapchat, saying, “I charge cheap too $10 for 10 pics $5 for 5 and $20 for 20”. A different Snapchat user asked Erickson why he made so many, and he replied, “to sell them to boys.”
An arrest warrant for Erickson was obtained on Monday, and he was taken into custody that afternoon. On Tuesday, a judge granted him conditional pretrial release. Erickson is on electronic monitoring and is required not to have any contact with minors or access to the internet.
His next court date is July 17.
New law, new accountability
To get justice for victims of doctored photos and AI deepfakes, the DeKalb County State’s Attorney’s Office is using a new law that took effect last July.
“The attorney general reached out to me about updating our current child pornography laws to include digitally altered images,” state Rep. Jennifer Gong-Ghershowitz said in April 2024. “The language in this bill mirrors federal child sexual abuse law.”
The bill Gong-Ghershowitz introduced that day was House Bill 4623, a follow-up to House Bill 2123, which passed in 2023.
HB 2123 made it so that victims of deepfake porn and digitally altered nonconsensual images could sue the creator. A court could also grant temporary restraining orders and injunctions against perpetrators to stop publishing photos and videos.
HB 4623 expanded upon that to criminalize the creation and distribution of AI deepfakes involving minors.
“Being that this is an AI thing, I think the wording they added to the law last year made … the elements of this case fit,” Dekalb County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Jim Burgh said.