Suspect, Victim Both Worked At Boca West Country Club. Charge 49-Year-Old Man With AI Crime.
BOCA RATON, FL (BocaNewsNow.com) (Copyright © 2026 MetroDesk Media, LLC) — A Coral Springs man faces felony charges after Palm Beach County sheriff’s deputies say he used artificial intelligence to create nude images of a teenage coworker at Boca West Country Club and then threatened to release them unless she resumed contact with him. Thomas Christopher Ball, 49, was arrested on charges of altered sexual depictions of an identifiable person, sending harmful material to a minor, and unlawful use of a two-way communication device.
According to the arrest affidavit, Ball and the 17-year-old victim were coworkers at Boca West Country Club when he gained access to her Instagram account and began sending increasingly inappropriate messages. Investigators say he used a photo from the victim’s TikTok account — posted when she was approximately 13 or 14 years old — to generate an AI-edited image depicting her fully nude. Ball sent the image through Instagram’s vanish mode to prevent screenshots, then threatened to publicly expose it if she did not resume friendly contact with him.
Detectives say Ball explicitly acknowledged knowing the victim was a minor and continued pursuing contact across multiple platforms — including SMS, WhatsApp, and Instagram — after she blocked him. A friend of Ball’s separately called 911, telling Sunrise police that Ball had come to her home seeking a firearm. Ball was Baker Acted on March 12th. Investigators also documented Bank of America Zelle records showing Ball transferring money to the victim on multiple occasions.
He is now charged with creating an “altered sexual depiction,” transmission of harmful material, and illegal use of a 2-way device. Ball, who remains in jail Monday morning, is set to be arraigned next month.
