The initial 911 call was concerning enough: A man was racing home from work, he said, because his wife had just told him a stranger had forced himself into their apartment. A moment later the caller said his wife had just sent him a photo of the intruder on their sofa.
Officers from the Montgomery County Police Department in suburban Maryland raced to the scene. The first one arrived at the same time as the panicked husband. They hurried inside.
But there was no intruder.
Just the wife, police now say, casually sitting on the sofa, next to a cellphone that was mounted on a tripod and facing the door – all part of a prank that escalated and ended with Moesha Gardener’s arrest. Police say she created the photo of the stranger in their apartment using artificial intelligence.
The case underscores how police agencies and companies across the nation are trying to anticipate the dangers of AI even as they embrace its potential.
Law enforcement has a particular challenge, experts say, because they can have such little time to sort through information during an emergency.
“The last thing they need to start doing is not trusting their citizenry,” said former police officer Sean Bair, author of the just-published “A.I. in Policing: The Rise of A.I. in the Fight Against Crime.”
On balance, Bair said, AI will become an immensely positive tool for law enforcement: 911 centers will better prioritize calls; detectives can feed disparate clues to AI to help break a case; commanders will know better how to plan patrolling routes. “There are a lot guardrails that need to be set up, but there isn’t one part of policing that won’t be touched by AI,” Bair said.
In the Montgomery County case, officers charged Gardener with reporting a false crime and making false statements to police stemming from the incident earlier this month.
POLICE WARN AGAINST 'AI HOMELESS MAN' TREND ON TIKTOK
— The AI Showdown 24x7 (@ai_24x7) October 23, 2025
A disturbing trend involving AI-generated images known as the "AI Homeless Man Prank" has spread from TikTok to other platforms, prompting official warnings from police departments in multiple countries. The prank involves… pic.twitter.com/FrET4VixMm
“I hope at this point she doesn’t think it’s funny anymore,” one of the responding officers, Sgt. James Mirra, said Tuesday.
Gardener declined to comment Wednesday. She is free on bond, according to court records, and is due in court on Nov. 24.
She appeared to be following the “AI Homeless Man Prank,” in which people insert an AI image of a man within a photo of their home – creating the idea there is a stranger inside, according to Capt. Amy Daum, commander of the Montgomery Police Department’s Bethesda District.
The pranksters text the images to friends and family or post them on social media.
“She took it farther and framed the prank as a home invasion,” Daum said.
She said it’s not clear if Gardener intended for her husband to call 911 as part of the prank but said if someone is trying to fool a loved one into thinking she is alone with an intruder, “I think you should assume 911 is going to get called.”
The husband’s call to Montgomery’s 911 center came just before 10:30 a.m. on Oct. 8, according to court records. He is a member of the U.S. military, Daum said, and was rushing to the apartment still in his fatigues.
“He drove home at high speeds,” police asserted in court records, “running through intersections in an unmarked civilian vehicle and breaking traffic laws because he thought she was in danger.”
The "AI Homeless Man" TikTok prank just crossed from viral to illegal. Teens are using AI to generate fake images of strangers "breaking into" their homes, texting panicked parents-who then call 911. #AI #TikTok #AIEthics #DeepFakes #TechNews #SocialMedia pic.twitter.com/SYmvGTkwIy
— Imran Tamboli (@imrant) October 22, 2025
Eight officers in eight police cars also drove to the scene under “priority” designation, meaning lights, sirens and high speeds where possible, according to Daum and Mirra. “There is inherent risk to that,” Daum said.
Five of the officers quickly determined there was no threat or emergency at the home. The three others were routed to other calls. Still, officers were tied up on the matter for several hours, Daum said.
Inside the apartment, she added, officers tried to explain to Gardener the severity of what she did. They “explained the danger that she put [Montgomery] officers and the whole community in, and confirmed with the husband that nobody found this prank funny or amusing,” officers wrote in court papers. “Moesha stated once again, it was just a joke that she didn’t expect to get taken so seriously.”
At the scene, the husband’s emotions swung from relief to anger.
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“He was grateful she was safe but became upset she’d given him the belief she wasn’t safe,” Mirra said. “He went through an emotional roller coaster.”
Daum compared the incident to “swatting,” when people call 911 about a purported emergency inside homes or schools in the hopes that police will respond rapidly, sometimes even a SWAT team. “We have a challenge with swatting in this county,” Daum said.
After the incidents, Daum said, officers, detectives and 911 operators have gathered to discuss ways to more quickly ascertain if the call is real. “We’ve gotten better at recognizing fake calls,” Daum said.
But for public safety, police need to err on the side of assuming the worst, Daum said. “We’re always on guard for complacency, and our officers assume what is related to 911 is true until proven otherwise,” she said.
