Gainesville Man Arrested for Creating Sexual Images of Woman Using AI

Alachua County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrested Odan Cruz, 39, Wednesday afternoon on a warrant for nearly two dozen counts of promoting an altered depiction of a person without their consent. 

Cruz was charged with 22 counts; however, the arrest report states he created “well over 80 images” artificially depicting the victim's face on another woman's body. At least 45 of the images were sexual.

Cruz used deepfakes to create the images. Deepfakes are online content, such as photos and videos, that have been edited using artificial intelligence (AI). 

Over a decade ago, the victim ended her friendship with Cruz because he “began engaging in behavior that made [her] uncomfortable and concerned for her safety,” according to the arrest report.

The victim told police that over the past 12 years, Cruz has consistently tried to contact her, posted pictures of her on his social media and stalked her online accounts. 

The arrest report states, “In March 2025, [Cruz] once again initiated efforts to make contact with the victim. This time, [Cruz] sent the victim messages on a social media platform. Notably, [Cruz’s] message to the victim contained certain terms that indicated a strong possibility that [he] had gained information about the victim’s life, causing justifiable fear that [he] had been following [her] either physically or ‘digitally’ using data available on the internet.”

A few months later, the victim’s friend informed her that Cruz had a social media account where he published sexualized deepfake images of her.

One of the images Cruz published reportedly depicted the victim’s face on the body of a woman wearing a Confederate flag bikini, while others depicted the victim on a sexualized cartoon body. Several of the images depicted the victim in sexual acts with male bodies that had a deepfake of Cruz's face.

Cruz is being held in the Alachua County Jail on a $440,000 bond.