Summary
A man in Santa Ana, California, Joel Ciprian, shared a picture he said showed a Gaboon viper in a neighborhood near Main Street and Edinger Avenue and called police on Monday, September 28th (article does not give a year). The Santa Ana Police Department initially ran the image through an A.I. detection system (Grok) and had asserted it was real, which helped prompt public alarm.
Ciprian later admitted he had generated the picture using A.I. and is now the subject of a criminal investigation for allegedly falsifying a police report. The district attorney will decide whether to file charges; the article notes the allegation would likely be a misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.