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A watchdog group in Long Island, New York, used Artificial Intelligence (AI) to bust an elementary school music teacher who allegedly sent sexually explicit messages to someone whom he believed was a 13-year-old girl online.
Mark Verity, 37, of Islip was arrested and charged with “Attempted Dissemination of Indecent Material to a Minor 1st Degree, Attempted Use of a Child Less Than 17 Years of Age in a Sexual Performance-Sexually Motivated and Attempted Use of a Child Less Than 17 Years of Age in a Sexual Performance,” according to a press release from the Suffolk County Police Department.
Verity’s arrest came after Predator Poachers Long Island confronted him outside the school where he works. The group said a team member was messaged by someone identifying himself as Verity and who sent a photo of himself on social media. The so-called teenage girl that Verity thought he was “sexting” was a 29-year-old group member, according to Predator Poachers Long Island.
The decoy used AI-driven appearance modification to make herself look younger online. The group then used AI tools to trace Verity’s online activity and pinpointed his location, as first reported by The New York Post.
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Music teacher Mark Verity was arrested after allegedly sending sexually explicit messages to whom he believed was a 13-year-old girl in an undercover sting. (Suffolk County Police)
“When he confessed, he realized his life that he’d been living for the past 37 years was now going to be completely off,” Mike Villani of Predator Poachers Long Island told Fox News Digital.
Predator Poachers Long Island called police, sparking the investigation into Verity.
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“If you’re doing really heinous, evil stuff like Verity was doing, then you must have in the back of your mind that it’s only a matter of time before something like this does happen,” Villani added. “Normally, when we confront people they say they didn’t do this, or they didn’t do that, but in this case, Mr. Verity was very forthcoming about all the stuff he tried to do with this teenager.”
Fox News Digital attempted to reach out to Verify, but did not receive a response.
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“Verity is a teacher in the Shoreham-Wading River Central School District. At this point in the investigation, there is no evidence that any student was a victim. The district is cooperating with the investigation,” Suffolk County police said.
Suffolk County police cars in Babylon, New York. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
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Wading River Elementary School informed the school’s parents that they removed Verity from the classroom before suspending him on Oct. 15.
“I am writing as a follow-up to last night’s message regarding a Wading River School teacher who has been removed from the classroom and will not be permitted on school grounds pending the outcome of the investigation,” Superintendent Gerard W. Poole said in a letter to parents, seen by Fox News Digital.