The case began with a CyberTipline report from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children about activity on a Snapchat account. Osceola County Sheriff's Office detectives used subpoenas and search warrants to connect the account to Reyes. When his arrest was announced in September, he faced nine counts of possessing child pornography and three counts of possessing pornographic videos depicting prohibited sexual activity involving a child and an animal. The new filing expands those charges.
The civil complaint, filed in state Circuit Court in Sarasota County, accuses A2E of unfair and deceptive practices under Florida's consumer protection statute. The state alleges the platform lacks mandatory age verification, content moderation, and protocols for reporting illegal material to law enforcement, despite written bans in its terms of service. It cites criminal cases in Tampa and Tallahassee where defendants allegedly used A2E software to generate illicit imagery of minors, including a Tampa case involving more than 100 images of the defendant's stepchildren. The state seeks an injunction, restitution, and penalties of up to $10,000 per violation. Those remedies apply only if a court grants them.
The announcement was made at an Orlando news conference with Osceola County Sheriff Chris Blackmon. The timing is politically notable: Uthmeier faces his first election in less than a week. Florida has already acted on AI sexual imagery. In 2025, lawmakers approved a measure requiring social media companies to delete deepfakes, meaning AI-generated sexual depictions of people created without their consent. Uthmeier's office has framed the suit as a test of whether AI tool operators can be held responsible when their safeguards fail.