A Guilford County judge set a $750,000 secured bond for Richard Lynn Upright, 56, a former teacher at Vandalia Christian School in Greensboro, North Carolina, who is charged with 10 counts of second-degree sexual exploitation of a minor after investigators say he used artificial intelligence and photo-editing software to superimpose students' faces onto child sexual abuse material.
Upright made his first court appearance on March 2 after his arrest on Feb. 27. During the hearing, a detective testified that investigators ultimately found 111 images of child sexual abuse material on his devices.
The investigation began on Feb. 23 after the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received a cyber tip from Google flagging Upright's account, according to People.
The tip indicated Upright had uploaded child sexual abuse material to his Google Drive, and the case was processed through the FBI and the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation before reaching the Guilford County Sheriff's Office.
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Search warrants were executed at both Upright's home in Pleasant Garden and at Vandalia Christian School on Feb. 27. Investigators discovered that many of the images involved students' faces digitally placed onto sexually explicit content using Photoshop and artificial intelligence.
A detective from the Guilford County Sheriff's Office said in court that the faces in the flagged cyber tips were "actually photoshopped images with his students' heads placed onto the child pornography," Yahoo News reported. Some of the material was allegedly created in a classroom setting, though it was not specified whether that referred to Vandalia Christian School.
Upright was still employed at the school when the investigation began and was fired after charges were filed. The father of two victims addressed the court, saying his youngest daughter has been deeply affected and struggled to return to school.
Upright remained silent during the hearing and waived his probable-cause hearing. He is scheduled to return to court on March 31, and the investigation remains active.
Anyone with information is encouraged to contact Detective S. Miller at 336-641-3451 or Guilford County Crime Stoppers at 336-373-1000, as per ABC45.
