Pasco teacher used AI to generate child porn from yearbook photos, deputies say

A teacher at Beacon Christian Academy in New Port Richey was arrested Tuesday after deputies say he used artificial intelligence to generate child pornography based on yearbook photos of students at the school.

Steven Houser, a third grade science teacher at the school, is facing five counts of possession of child pornography, court records show.

After receiving a tip, deputies began an investigation that found Houser, 67, possessed two photos and three videos containing child pornography, according to an arrest affidavit.

The sheriff’s office said the child pornography did not feature any students at the school.

Houser also possessed child pornography generated by AI, the affidavit states. Deputies say he admitted to using yearbook photos of three students’ faces to generate them onto bodies of women that were “sexually suggestive.”

In an interview with detectives, Houser admitted that he was curious about what his students looked like naked and admitted to generating sexually suggestive photos of children.

According to his arrest affidavit, Houser said it became an addiction to him because he was “bored,” but that he hadn’t made any attempts to conduct sexual behavior with his students because he saw them as his “children.”

Houser told deputies that he did not view any AI child pornography videos, but he did view one or two real child pornography videos out of “curiosity.”

After watching the videos, Houser told deputies that he immediately deleted them.

When reached by phone by a Tampa Bay Times reporter on Wednesday, an employee at Beacon Christian Academy said the school had no comment and hung up.

Houser was being held Thursday at the Land O’ Lakes detention center on a $500,000 bond. Court records show he has pleaded not guilty to all charges through a public defender.

There are no reports of additional victims, the sheriff’s office said in a news release. Anyone who believes they may be a victim can contact the sheriff’s office tip line at 1-800-706-2488, or report tips online at PascoSheriff.com/tips.