North Bethesda woman to pay $1K to police for AI prank that drew a police response

A North Bethesda woman has agreed to pay Montgomery County Police $1,000 to dismiss charges stemming from a prank she played on her husband last year using artificial intelligence.

Moesha Gardener, 28, created an AI image that seemed to show a man on the couch in the couple’s North Bethesda apartment. She texted it to her husband and triggered a police response.

She agreed to the resolution on Monday in Montgomery County Circuit Court, according to a Tuesday statement from the Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s Office.

Gardener is charged with making a false statement concerning an emergency and making a false statement to a state official concerning a crime. If she makes the donation within 90 days the state will drop the charges, prosecutors said.

Police responded on Oct. 8 to a call about an alleged burglary in the 5000 block of McGrath Boulevard. When officers arrived, Gardener was alone in the apartment.

“They found Gardener — unharmed — sitting ‘casually’ on the couch, near a cellphone on a tripod,” according to a court document detailing the incident.

Her husband, who arrived at almost the same time as police, had called 911 because Gardener had told him that a male stranger had forced his way into the home after she answered the door.

“Gardener admitted to sending the text messages to her husband, along with a computer-generated image created with artificial intelligence that appeared to show an intruder on their couch,” prosecutors said. “The defendant stated that the messages were meant to be a prank.”

Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy said in the statement the agreement between Gardener and prosecutors was a “fair resolution.”

He continued, “People who participate in social media-related pranks need to be aware that there could be unintended consequences. In this case, multiple marked police cruisers, with activated emergency lights and sirens, drove at high speeds during daytime traffic to respond to the 911 call.”

McCarthy said the public was unnecessarily put at risk because of the hoax and police “strained resources.”

Gardener’s attorney was not immediately reached for comment on Tuesday afternoon.