Fishers man charged with 20 felonies over AI-altered photos

Charles Coriaty, 63, of Fishers, faces 20 felony charges for using artificial intelligence to alter clothed photos of young people so they appear nude.

A Hamilton Circuit Court judge set his bond at $2.5 million cash only. Coriaty was formally charged Wednesday afternoon after being preliminarily charged Monday.

The Hamilton County Metro Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force issued a news release on Wednesday detailing the counts. Coriaty is accused of 10 low-level felony counts of child exploitation, seven low-level felony counts of possession of child pornography, and three low-level felony counts of possession of child sex abuse material. He is currently held in the Hamilton County jail in Noblesville.

The investigation began after the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received a CyberTip from SmugMug, an online image hosting and photo sharing platform. The tip contained approximately 175 images, many of which investigators said were altered with an AI app. Task force detectives subsequently searched Coriaty’s SmugMug account under a warrant and found additional child sexual abuse material.

Detectives also searched Coriaty’s home under a warrant and found additional images stored in computer folders. The task force identified folders named “Teen Models,” “Braces,” and “School Portraits.”

The task force is based at the Fishers Police Department. It includes detectives from the Fishers, Carmel, Westfield, Noblesville, Greenfield, and Anderson police departments, as well as the Hamilton and Madison county sheriff’s offices and U.S. Homeland Security. The group investigates internet crimes against children in Hamilton, Hancock, Madison, and Tipton counties.