Dazhon Darien, the athletics director at Pikesville High School, Maryland, was arrested Thursday for allegedly creating a falsified recording of the school's principal Eric Eiswert having a racist, antisemitic conversation, using artificial intelligence application. He was charged with disrupting school activities by the Baltimore County Police.
According to the the police, the recording made by Darien, 31, in January 2024, went viral on social media, drawing widespread outrage from across the country. People in Baltimore County were especially infuriated and the school was flooded with calls. Increased police presence was needed at the school as a preventive measure, in case the issue escalated.
The investigation into the case is active and detectives think that the falsified audio impersonating Eiswert was a revenge plot against Eiswert's recently launching an investigation into allegations of mishandling of school funds, Baltimore County Police Chief Robert McCullough said Thursday.
Reports say that Darien was arrested Thursday morning at the BWI Marshall Airport, as he was trying to board a plane to Houston. Maryland Transportation Authority Police stopped him at he security checked and flagged his luggage for the way he packed his gun in the check-in luggage. When they looked him up in the system, they found an open arrest warrant against him.
"Mr. Darien was stopped because of the way his declared firearm was packaged when officers looked into his background they learned he had an open arrest warrant," McCullough said.
In addition, he also facing charges for theft, witness retaliation and stalking, Darien has been released from the Baltimore County Detention Center on a bond of $5,000. As per the online court records, he currently does not have an attorney representing him.
