Valley City man convicted for having child sex abuse materials

VALLEY CITY, N.D. (KVRR-KFGO) – A Valley City man was sentenced for possessing child sex abuse materials, including images he created using artificial intelligence.

Mitchell Kohler was convicted on five counts of possession of certain materials prohibited.

On Feb. 25, a judge in Barnes County sentenced Kohler to four years in prison – one year for each of four counts. The sentence for the fifth count was suspended for five years.

After serving his sentence, Kohler will be on three years of supervised probation and will be required to register as a sex offender.

Kohler was arrested in April 2025 after police received a cybertip from Apple. Court records show a search warrant turned up hundreds of images and videos of young girls.

During an interview, investigators say Kohler admitted to using AI to digitally alter images he found on social media accounts of local girls.

The North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation worked with Valley City Police to investigate the case.