A court filing describes a Livonia officer using an synthetic profile picture in messages exchanged with an adult suspect. Investigators combined the officer-run account with phone, face-search and vehicle data before making an arrest. The allegations remain unproven, and the case distinguishes a synthetic picture from an autonomous chatbot: a police officer conducted the messages.
Livonia police arrested Christopher Thomas Mertens after he arrived to meet a person who existed as an undercover profile, according to a court complaint and affidavit examined by 404 Media and Court Watch. Mertens, described as a maintenance worker at an Illinois high school, had corresponded with the account during September. The allegations remain unproven.[1]
McKailey Scott, an officer serving on a Federal Bureau of Investigation task force, created the Caleb account on dating app Taimi. It used an AI-generated picture of a teenage-appearing male and initially listed no age. The affidavit says that, after the conversation moved to WhatsApp, Scott answered 15 when asked the persona’s age. Correspondence continued. A human officer conducted the messages; the AI-generated element was the profile image.[1]
Investigators queried the phone number through Thomson Reuters CLEAR, a public-records search service, and used Clearview AI facial searches to identify Mertens. They tracked his car using Flock vehicle data as he sent journey and arrival messages. Police detained him after he left the vehicle. The complaint leaves the school unnamed, and Livonia police did not answer a request for comment.[1]
