Athletic Director Accused Of Impersonating Principal With AI, Took Jobs At Numerous Schools

(ConservativeSense.com) – A Maryland athletic director who allegedly created fake audio of a school principal using artificial intelligence (AI) technology to make the principal appear racist and antisemitic had a history of lying on job applications long before the incident.

The Baltimore Banner published a report on Monday, May 20, from the results of their investigation into Dazhon Darien’s background. According to that investigation, the former athletic director for Pikesville High School used two alternative names in the past to fill out employment applications, filing a total of 29 false claims in the process.

The report found that between the two resumes submitted by Darien to the Baltimore County School District, he included at least 16 false claims on those documents. Despite the discrepancies, the school system hired Darien and said he passed a background check, including fingerprints and references.

County Executive Johnny Olszewski Jr. made a statement about the recent findings and said it further illustrated a “clear case” of someone “willing to fabricate anything,” including going “to considerable lengths” to fake his own qualifications. Olszewski added that the case illustrated the need for a more “comprehensive look into hiring practices” to avoid this sort of application fraud.

Darien was under investigation by the district for mishandling funds when he made it into the headlines in April for the first time for allegedly using AI software to produce a fake voice recording of Eric Eisert, the principal of Pikesville High, which portrayed him as racist and antisemitic. When the fake audio was posted online, it spread around the school and some students and their parents were outraged by the story. After experts from the FBI and the University of California collaborated with the Baltimore County Police to analyze the audio, Darien’s scheme was revealed.

According to Police Chief Robert McCullough, the athletic director intentionally “produced the recording to retaliate against” Eiswert for initiating the probe into Darien for mishandling school money. He was arrested and charged with stalking, retaliating against a witness, and disrupting school operations.