A former athletic director who used artificial intelligence to impersonate the principal of Pikesville High School and severely damage his reputation admitted Tuesday to sexually exploiting at least five children and faces up to 30 years in federal prison.
Dazhon Darien appeared before U.S. Senior District Judge James Bredar and pleaded guilty to one count of sexual exploitation of a child.
Darien, 34, now of Houston, who remains in custody, answered questions from the judge before accepting the plea agreement. His attorney, Julie Reamy, left the courtroom without discussing the case.
At his sentencing scheduled for Nov. 10, Darien faces a mandatory minimum of 15 years in prison.
Federal prosecutors agreed to recommend a sentence of 21 years, but Bredar could still exceed that suggested term and order him to serve up to 30 years.
In 2024, Darien used AI to create a deepfake audio clip that made it seem like the then-principal at Pikesville High School, Eric Eiswert, made racist and antisemitic comments.
The clip quickly spread online, including on the Instagram page @murder_ink_bmore, which boasts about 370,000 followers.
Darien worked as the athletic director of the school. The Banner found that he made at least 29 false claims on four jobs applications, including on résumés he submitted to Baltimore County Public Schools.
More than three months later, Baltimore County Police arrested Darien. The FBI then took him into custody after law enforcement uncovered evidence of the child sex crimes.
Darien later entered an Alford plea in Baltimore County Circuit Court to one count of disturbing school operations and was sentenced to four months in jail. That meant he did not admit guilt but acknowledged that prosecutors had enough evidence to secure a conviction.
In federal court on Tuesday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Budlow said that between 2023 and 2024, Darien sexually exploited at least five boys between the ages of 14 and 17. He used Snapchat to communicate with the children and asked them to send him explicit images and photos.
Darien paid one of the victims for images on nine separate occasions for a total of $224, Budlow said. Investigators found child sexual abuse material in online accounts as well as on his cellphones.
Even after police arrested him in the AI case, Darien continued to victimize children, Budlow said.
Darien, he said, even told one of them that he was a high school principal.
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