A 49-year-old Coral Springs man was arrested Friday after allegedly using AI to generate a nude image of a 17-year-old coworker and threatening to expose it if she stopped communicating with him.
Thomas Christopher Ball worked as a painter at Boca West Country Club in Palm Beach County, where the teen worked in the fitness department. After she allowed him to follow her on Instagram, he began sending sexual messages and offered her $200 to share her address so he could perform a sex act on her.
When she pulled back, Ball allegedly sent her an AI-altered screenshot from one of her TikTok videos showing her fully nude — taken from footage filmed when she was 13 or 14. He claimed to have more images and threatened to release them if she didn’t resume contact.
He subsequently sent messages declaring his love, offered her $1,000, and after she blocked him, reached out from an unknown number. Zelle records reviewed by investigators showed payments to the teen that suggested grooming. In a separate incident, a friend of Ball called 911 reporting he had come to retrieve a firearm to shoot “the girl who made him lose his job.” He was Baker Acted shortly after.
Ball faces charges including generating altered sexual depictions without consent and sending harmful material to a minor. Bond was set at $75,000.
