More charges possible for accused in deepfake pornography case, police say
Already facing 79 charges, number of reports about Stephen Lowe is growing, Ottawa police investigator says
A Nova Scotia man with Nunavut ties is facing 79 charges in the relation to the creation of deepfake pornography. More charges are likely to be laid as the number of alleged victims increases, an Ottawa Police Service spokesperson says. (File photo)
More charges might be coming against Stephen Lowe, a Nova Scotia man with Nunavut ties, who is accused of using pictures of people without their consent to create deepfake pornography, an Ottawa Police Service investigator says.
“I’ve received an investigative update and we are potentially at around 59 [alleged] victims,” Insp. Pascal Labine said in an interview Friday.
On Thursday, a CBC News report quoted Labine saying there were more than 50 women affected. That number has grown since police charged Lowe earlier this year.
In February, Lowe was charged with two counts of harassment and two counts of uttering threats against two Ottawa women. In April, police laid more charges, bringing the total to 79, which involved 23 more complainants.
Lowe is in custody at the Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre. He made a brief court appearance May 29. His next court date is scheduled for June 12.
“Because this is an ongoing investigation, we anticipate that, potentially, there are going to be more victims and additional charges,” Labine said.
Lowe, 60, spent approximately two decades living in Nunavut on and off, beginning in the early 2000s.
His charges include harassment, uttering threats, possession of obscene material and child pornography.
Many of those allegations involve the use of non-consensual deepfake pornography and the creation of violent imagery, an Ottawa police news release issued May 29 stated.
The police called those affected victims of “technology-facilitated sexual violence.”
Deepfake pornography involves the use of high-end computers to transpose photographs of real people onto the faces of others, often in pornographic videos and photos. Generative AI is a somewhat different technology that can be used for the same purpose.
Last week, Ottawa Police Det. Dakota Bashford said approximately 10 women from Nunavut had come forward with similar allegations against Lowe. But no charges have been laid in connection to those reports.
Labine was unable to confirm whether any of the new allegations came from Nunavut women.
“The answer could be ‘yes,’” he said.
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