Deltona Man Arrested in Child Exploitation Investigation

19-year-old Hector Martinez Montanez of Deltona has been arrested for allegedly using artificial intelligence to generate explicit photos of minors. Martinez Montanez’s latest arrest is on top of another one in April for possession of child pornography. According to the Volusia Sheriff’s Office, Martinez Montanez used an A.I. application that processes photos and renders an image of the subject with their clothes removed. The photos in question reportedly were of a 15-year-old. While the images were not authentic child pornography, they still led to 17 new charges: two counts of generating altered sexual depictions without consent, and 15 counts of promoting altered sexual depictions of a person without consent. These charges are in addition to a dozen counts of possession of a sexual performance by a child. The tip that led to Martinez Montanez’s initial arrest came from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. This led to a search warrant for his electronics by detectives with the VSO Child Exploitation Unit. He was arrested on April 6 and released on bond the following day. Martinez Montanez is still in the Volusia County Branch Jail as of Tuesday morning. He was booked on June 6 with $275,000 bond.