Pasco County Christian teacher accused of using AI to create erotic content from student yearbook photos

NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla. - Deputies in Pasco County say they are scouring thousands of images, some containing child porn, they found inside a third-grade science teacher’s home to see if there are any more victims.

Steven Houser, 67, a teacher at Beacon Christian Academy, is accused of not only having child porn, but of using artificial intelligence to create erotic content from the yearbook photos of three students.

"You’re creating sexually explicit pictures, and from his own admittance, taking pictures from a yearbook and then moving it over," Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco explained. "That face onto these pictures."

Nocco said the sheriff’s office began investigating after receiving a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s database, "Take it Down", stating that Houser had two pictures and three videos featuring child porn. The child porn did not feature any students at the school, according to the sheriff's office.

"There’s evil out there," Nocco said. "This guy is just purely evil. There’s something wrong with him. He does not need to be in society anymore."

Nocco went on to state that this could have happened at any school and that Houser did not have a prior history of crime.

Pictured: Steven Houser. Image is courtesy of the Pasco County Sheriff's Office. 

"He was going on Roblox, a kids’ game, talking to these kids," Nocco said. "A 60-something-year-old male should not be going online with juveniles."

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"The difficult thing is that the laws can’t keep up with the criminals a lot of times, especially as you’re dealing with artificial intelligence, as you deal with computer crimes," Nocco added. "They’re consistently thinking ahead to different things…No matter what picture you put out there, somebody can use that later on for evil purposes."

Nocco says this investigation is ongoing, and that more charges could be filed.

Deputies say Houser was a third-grade science teacher at Beacon Christian Academy. 

He said there could also be more victims out there.

Anyone who believes their child may have been victimized is asked to contact the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office.

Houser appeared in court on Wednesday and was given a $500,000 bond.

Fox 13 reached out to Beacon Christian Academy for comment and is waiting to hear back.

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