Questions Flashcards
Are you currently in college?
Yes, I am a freshman at Chronos County Community College (CCCC) in Poseidon, New York.
Why did you decide to attend chronos county community college?
It is the only college my parents can afford at the time, since CCCC doesn’t offer academic scholarships.
What are you studying?
I am hoping to get into SUNY at Poseidon in a couple of years to become a premier applications computer programmer.
Where did you go to high school?
I went to Athena High in Poseidon New York.
How was your highschool experience?
It was remarkable, but the highlight of my highschool career was being in the Computer Science Club.
Can you describe your experience with the Computer science club?
Yes, I served the club for two years. First, as a freshman I was the club’s treasurer, and then as a sophomore I was the club’s secretary. My junior year I would have been vice president but I lost the election to Sandy Townes.
So you know the defendant, Sandy Townes?
Yes.
Can you please briefly tell the court how you know Sandy Townes?
We were in the Computer Science club together and we also had AP Computer Science together with our teacher Jaime King.
Is there a date that you can recall where you had a negative interaction with Sandy Townes?
Yes, October 2021.
What happened in October of 2021?
I saw Townes and a couple of other students I didn’t know in the computer science room creating graphics poking fun at Superintendent Manns.
How did you respond to seeing Townes making these graphics?
I told Townes that I did not find them clever or funny. But they told me to mind my own business and to go away.
Did the graphics stop after that?
No, over time they became more crude and vile.
How do you know that the graphics didn’t stop?
They were often posted on the District’s electronic community bulletin boards.
If I showed you these graphics, would you recognize them?
Yes.
Graphics Would you identify them, please?”
These are the computer graphics I saw Townes making.
“How do you know that these are the graphics?
I saw them while they were being made in the computer science room, and again when they were posted in the District’s online community bulletin board
“Are these a fair and accurate representation of the images you saw in October 2021?”
Yes they are.
Did you report these graphics at the time they were posted?
No, not at the time. I was scared that if the Superintendent found out they were made in the computer science room, there would be serious consequences.
Did you ever report the graphics?
Yes, when the investigator spoke to me about the AI Deep Fakes in 2024, I mentioned that Townes was the ringleader of making the graphics.
Now let’s fast forward to the next school year, 2022-2023. Do you remember this year?
Yes, it was my junior year.
Were you still a part of the Computer science club?
Yes, but I was no longer an officer thanks to Sandy Townes.
What do you mean by that?
I lost the election for Vice President to Sandy Townes because they made a bunch of promises to the club members to win the election, but as I found out later, none of that ever came true.
How did you feel about losing the election to Townes?
I felt like I deserved the position after serving the club well for two years.
What impact did losing the election have on you?
Well, many colleges put a premium on extra curricular activities. I felt like if I had become vice president, I would have gotten a full ride to SUNY at Poseidon. But I didn’t, so now I have to wait out my two years at CCCC.
Do you blame Townes for not getting into SUNY at Poseidon?
I was bothered at first, but I am in college now, and have moved on from my dislike of Townes.
Did you interact with Townes any more that year?
Yes, we both took Jamie King’s AP computer science course in the Spring Semester of 2023.
What, if anything, happened while you were in that course?
We had to write a paper on generative AI.
Why do you remember that specifically?
Because I remember how much Townes bragged about how much they understood Generative AI and how they got an A+ on the paper.
Do you remember what topic Townes wrote about?
It was about Generative AI and how to use it to make new text, images, video, and audio files.
What was the title of your paper?
“The Future of Generative AI and How to Prevent Malicious Abuse”
What grade did you receive on the paper?
B-
Do you remember what grade Townes received on the paper?
Yes, Townes got an A+
How did you feel about this?
It doesn’t really bother me, I just wish Townes wasn’t in your face bragging about it.
Let’s fast forward to the spring of the next school year. Do you remember the date April 1st, 2024?
Yes.
Please briefly explain to the court what you remember about that date
I saw a video posted on RicRoc, of Superintendent Manns accepting a $50,000 bribe from a building contractor.
How did you react when you saw this video?
Well it showed my favorite superintendent accepting a bribe, I thought it was a cruel April fool’s prank.
Then what happened?
On April 2nd I saw a post about Leyton Manns on SeddIT
Can you describe the post please?
In the post, Manns is making disturbing comments about students, parents, and teachers associated with Athena High.
What were your thoughts after seeing these posts?
I knew for sure that the audio recording and the video were deepfakes. I was thoroughly shaken by these occurrences.
So how did you become involved in this case between Leyton Manns and Sandy Townes?
When I read the April 7th Chronos Chronicle Article calling Dr. Manns to withdraw from the Senate Race and resign from the county after the release of the video and audio recordings, I reached out to the county sheriff’s office.
When did you contact the sheriff’s investigator?
April 8th, 2024
Why did you contact the Sheriff’s investigator?
To tell them that the two postings were deep fakes and about the Quickchat message I had received from Townes.
To be clear, had an investigator reached out to you about these matters?
No, I contacted them after I saw the April 7th Chronos County article.
Do you know the plaintiff, Leyton Manns?
Yes.
How do you know the plaintiff, Leyton Manns?
She was the superintendent of Athena high while I was a student there.
Why did you decide to testify on behalf of Leyton Manns?
Dr. Manns is an honest and noble public servant. I look forward to assisting Dr. Manns in getting justice.
You mentioned a Quickchat message to the investigator, can you briefly tell the court more about that?
Townes had sent a message to the executive committee of the Athena High computer science club and I had received the message accidentally.
Do you remember when this was posted?
Sometime in June during the academic year 2022-2023
How did you see the Quickchat message?
I was still accidentally on the computer science Executive committee group chat on Quickchat.
Why did the Quickchat message from Townes stand out to you?
At the time, I thought that the message was just Townes blowing off steam.
Can you recall what Townes posted on QuickChat?
I remember seeing that Townes promised to make Manns pay dearly for defunding the Computer Science Club.
Was there anything else on the QuickChat message?
There was also a statement to the effect of, no one would vote for Manns after seeing the RicRoc Video and hearing the juicy audio recording.
Do you have proof that Townes posted this?
No, I did not think to take a picture at the time, I regret my decision now
You mentioned earlier that you also reported the graphics you saw created in October of 2021 to the investigator. Why?
Well it wasn’t a great leap to believe that if Townes could stoop to making those disgusting graphics, that they could also make the audio and video recordings.
Why do you so strongly believe it could be Sandy Townes who created the recordings?
Townes has shown some mastery in using generative AI, there is no question in my mind that Townes was capable of producing them.
As the investigation progressed, were there any other details that you remembered about those days?
Yes, I remembered that on April 1st, I had seen Sandy Townes coming out of the computer club room.
Why do you remember that?
Townes was exiting the Computer Science room in a rush. I tried to make a conversation with them but they didn’t seem interested.
Did you interact at all?
They asked me what time it was, and I told them it was 12:55. I remember this because they said they couldn’t talk because they had to make it to their 1 o’clock calculus class.
Had you seen Townes earlier that day?
No, our lunch period starts everyday at noon, and on that day I did not see Sandy in the cafeteria.
