A former high school athletic director for a Maryland high school has been arrested by police for allegedly using artificial intelligence to create a copy of his principal’s voice making racist and antisemitic statements and leaking them to the local press.
The athletic director, Dazhon Darien, was charged Thursday with disrupting school activities. Police claim Mr. Darien faked his principal’s voice and spread it on social media to smear him as a racist.
The charges were first reported by the Baltimore Banner.
The principal, Eric Eiswert, was temporarily removed from his position at Pikesville High School in January after the audio clips began making their way around social media. In the recordings, a voice matching Mr. Eiswert’s can be heard talking about “ungrateful Black kids who can’t test their way out of a paper bag.” The voice also says that certain staff at Pikesville High School should be fired.
“And if I have to get one more complaint from one more Jew in this community, I’m going to join the other side,” the voice says.
“The audio clip … had profound repercussions,” Baltimore County police wrote in their court documents. “It not only led to Eiswert’s temporary removal from the school but also triggered a wave of hate-filled messages on social media and numerous calls to the school. The recording also caused significant disruptions for the PHS staff and students.”
According to police, Mr. Darien sent the AI-generated audio clips to two teachers, and acted as if the three of them had received it anonymously from someone. One of those teachers then sent the recording to one of her students, “who she knew would quickly circulate the information around various social media outlets and throughout the school.”
Both Mr. Darien and that teacher, Shaena Ravenell, have submitted their resignations to the school board and will officially leave at the end of June.
Police say Mr. Darien fabricated the audio recordings after Mr. Eiswert began an investigation into him for allegedly taking $2,000 from the school. Mr. Darien claimed through a reimbursement payroll software that his friend and roommate was going to serve as a girls’ soccer coach at the school, which was not true.
When the accusations of racism and antisemitism began flying at Mr. Eiswert in January, few came to his defense. The school system’s superintendent, Myriam Rogers, called the recordings “disturbing” and “highly offensive and inappropriate statements about African American students, Pikesville High School staff, and Pikesville’s Jewish community.”
One of those who defended Mr. Eiswert from the accusations and suggested that the recordings were AI-generated was the head of his union, Billy Burke.
“I continue to be concerned about the damage these actions have caused for Principal Eiswert, his family, the students and staff of Pikesville High School, and the Black and Jewish community members,” Mr. Burke said in a statement to the Baltimore Banner on Thursday. “I hope there is deliberate action to heal the trauma caused by the fake audio and that all people can feel restored.”
