DeepfakeMedium
ChatGPT-Generated Image of Nonexistent 'Homeless Man' Was Used in False St. Petersburg, Florida Burglary and Sexual Battery Reports
- Occurred
- Oct 7, 2025
- Published
- Oct 16, 2025
- Source
- AI Incident Database
Summary
A St. Petersburg, Florida woman, Brooke Schinault, used a ChatGPT-generated image of a nonexistent man while falsely reporting that he broke into her home and sexually battered her. Police said the image resembled a viral "AI homeless man" prank and was found in a deleted folder dated before the alleged attack. The report prompted officers, rescue personnel, a detective, and forensic DNA collection. She later pleaded no contest and was adjudged guilty of misdemeanor false reporting.
Developers
- OpenAI
Deployers
- Brooke Schinault
Harmed parties
- St. Petersburg Police Department
- Police departments
- People needing emergency services
- Epistemic integrity
- Emergency responders
Classification
Category confidence: 90%
Severity confidence: 85%
Rationale: AI-generated image used to fabricate criminal allegations, causing police resource waste and legal consequences.
Classifier: Qwen/Qwen3.5-35B-A3B-FP8