Coral Springs man accused of blackmailing teen co-worker with explicit AI images
A Coral Springs man has been arrested and charged with multiple felonies related to allegedly creating pornographic AI images of a 17-year-old coworker after she declined his sexual advances, cops say.
Thomas Christopher Ball, 49, faces charges of creating 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 Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office.
The victim told police that she allowed Ball to follow her on Instagram in the fall after working with him at Boca West Country Club for several months. He began messaging her shortly afterward.
The texts were nondescript at first but soon became concerning, the arrest affidavit reads.
A detective from the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office who reviewed messages between Ball and the victim wrote that he “clearly was soliciting and attempting to groom the child victim.”
Tactics included financial baiting, emotional manipulation and guilt-tripping, oscillating between being defensive and aggressive, the detective wrote.
The affidavit alleges that “Ball called her one night while intoxicated and made sexual comments to her. During this call, he described sexual acts he wanted to perform on her and offered to pay her $200 to send him her address so he could perform oral sex on her.”
The victim said she then distanced herself from Ball, online and at work.
On March 8, he began repeatedly texting her, and according to police, “Ball sent a lengthy paragraph asking why she hated him and stating he treated everyone with respect. He wrote that if he could get her nails and feet done, she would never hear from him again. The victim responded by telling him to stop.”
The affidavit then states that Ball sent the victim a screenshot from one of her TikTok videos that had been edited to show her fully nude with her chest and genitals exposed.
“Ball stated he had this image and claimed to have more. He threatened to expose her if she did not resume talking to him at work,” officials wrote.
Officials went on to write that the victim told Ball that she was 14 or 15 in the image he had used, and that he had created child pornography.
He acknowledged the fact that she was a minor, then sent additional messages stating that “he loved her, would do anything for her, wanted to take her to a spa and spoil her, and would give her $1,000 because of how much he loved her,” and that he thought of her as a daughter, according to the affidavit.
“He also stated he found many pictures of her online and that she was gorgeous. The victim understood this to mean he had created additional AI-edited nude images from her TikTok videos,” the affidavit reads.
The victim then blocked Ball on Instagram, but he continued to attempt to contact her from an unknown number via text message and WhatsApp.
She told police that she struggled to sleep or eat while these incidents occurred, which worsened existing mental health concerns. Fearing that Ball may try to kidnap or hurt her, she said she stopped doing things she enjoyed, including walking outside and being in nature.
On March 12, Ball was taken into Sunrise Police Department custody under the Baker Act because “he was threatening everyone and was drunk,” the report states.
A friend of Ball’s also raised concerns on March 19, saying that Ball had come to her home “to get a firearm to shoot the girl who made him lose his job.”
He was arrested again in mid-April and booked into the Palm Beach Main Detention Center.
