LOGAN — A 43-year-old man has been sentenced to one year in jail and four years of probation for using artificial intelligence to produce a pornographic photo of a teenage girl. Randall Arthur Canavan was originally arrested in October 2024 following an investigation by the Logan City Police Department.
Canavan was sentenced Wednesday in Logan’s 1st District Court. He previously accepted a plea deal, pleading guilty to sexual exploitation of a minor, criminal solicitation of a minor and distribution of a controlled substance, all second-degree felonies.
In exchange for Canavan’s guilty pleas, attorneys agreed not to ask for a prison sentence. Two remaining charges were also dismissed.
According to prosecutors, police officers were contacted in September 2024 by the victim’s mother. She said Canavan had used a photo of her daughter when she was 13 and edited it onto a nude female body.
The mother also reported Canavan had given the now 17-year-old girl THC vapes several times.
Police obtained a warrant to search Canavan’s Google account. They located the deepfake image of the victim. Officers also found the original picture used to make the pornographic photo.
During Wednesday’s sentencing, defense attorney Kim McKinnon told the court Anderson had a porn problem at the time. She said her client realizes he “messed up” and would like to move on in his life.
Anderson stated that he knows what he did and will never do it again.
Cache County Deputy Attorney Joshua Coe said it seemed like Anderson was minimizing his actions. He described the case as disgusting, but acknowledged that fellow prosecutors had arranged the plea deal, taking a prison sentence off the table.
Judge Brian Cannell said he was bound by the plea deal and ordered Anderson to report to the Cache County Jail by Tuesday to begin serving his sentence. He also prohibited him from using drugs or alcohol, and being online.