Blog entries from Frederick Lane

Cerome v. United States, 08-CV-04019 (NGG) (E.D.N.Y. 1-14-2011)

Frederick Lane — Sat, 09 Apr 2011 01:51:59 +0100

Alleged Fourth Amendment Error Rejected -- Defendant was convicted of three counts of robbery. Following affirmation of his conviction by the Second Circuit, defendant filed a petition for post-conviction relief, alleging various instances ineffective assistance of counsel.

Following a brief investigation of a robbery, police identified the defendant as a suspect and went to his home. An officer pressed the doorbell on defendant's home, and defendant opened the door in response. The pRead More...

United States v. Self, No. 09-51012 Summary Calendar (5th Cir. 1-14-2011) [Unpublished]

Frederick Lane — Sun, 03 Apr 2011 13:35:57 +0100

Denial of Motion to Suppress Affirmed -- Defendant was convicted for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute 50 grams or more of cocaine base (crack) and possession with intent to distribute cocaine base (crack).

Defendant was asked by two individuals to make a delivery of crack cocaine to a motel. Upon arriving, defendant saw police officers present, fled on foot, and was subsequently arrested. During a search of the vehicle, the defendant's iPhone was discovered. A search ofRead More...

United States v. Poulin, No. 10-1126 (1st Cir. 1-7-2011)

Frederick Lane — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 21:52:16 +0100

Conviction Affirmed -- Defendant was convicted of production of child pornography in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2251(a) and appealed. In 1999, defendant moved in with a woman and her six children in a home in Maine. One of the children was a 13-year-old girl.

Shortly after moving in, defendant began buying "covert camera equipment" from SpyShop2000, located in Houston, Texas. Over a period of years, defendant used the equipment to take secret videos and photographs of the girl. In Read More...

United States v. Hernandez, No. CR 08-0730 WHA (N.D. Calif. 1-6-2011)

Frederick Lane — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 20:54:14 +0100

Motion to Suppress Granted -- San Francisco police officers observed three men whom they believed to be members of the MS-13 gang standing in front of a restaurant. A no-loitering sign was posted in the restaurant window. The officers watched the men for a few minutes, but observed no threatening or gang-related behavior. The officers approached the men to advise them about the no-loitering policy, and despite the lack of any threatening behavior, conducted a pat-down search of each one.

United States v. Rodriguez, 2:10-CR-235 JCM (PAL) (Nev. 1-18-2011)

Frederick Lane — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 12:02:53 +0100

Motion to Suppress Granted in Part and Denied in Part -- A search warrant was issued authorizing law enforcement agents to search for and seize evidence relating to two separate alleged crimes: drug trafficking and the manufacture of explosive devices. During the execution of the warrant, agents located and seized three marijuana pipes and three Dell computers. Defendant moved to suppress the computers, arguing that there was no probable cause for the search relating to drug trafficking.

United States v. Oladokun, Criminal No. 10-267 (ESH) (D.C. 1-14-2011)

Frederick Lane — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 18:21:08 +0100

Motion to Suppress Denied -- Defendant was a target of an investigation into an "account takeover" scam. Based on the results of their investigation, law enforcement agents applied for and received search warrants for the apartment of defendant's girlfriend, and a silver-colored Lexus automobile, which contained a laptop with relevant evidence.

Defendant moved to suppress the evidence obtained in those searches, arguing that the allegations made in the affidavit accompanying thRead More...

United States v. Courtright, No. 09-2880 (S.D. Ill. 1-13-2011)

Frederick Lane — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 01:19:56 +0100

Conviction affirmed -- Defendant was convicted of production, possession, and receipt of child pornography, and was sentenced to life plus ten years in prison. Defendant appealed, arguing that the district court erred by admitting evidence of a prior sexual assault, and by issuing improper jury instructions.

In 1998, defendant was convicted of aggravated sexual abuse when it was learned that he photographed a fifteen-year-old girl in sexually explicit poses and digitally penetrated heRead More...

Pegasus Imaging Corp. v. Northrop Grumman Corp., Case No. 8:07-CV-1937-T-27 EAJ (M.D. ...

Frederick Lane — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 16:42:23 +0100

Motion in Limine Denied -- A computer forensics expert hired by plaintiff testified that certain computer files known as "OCA files" were a integral part of plaintiff's software and could not be created without using plaintiff's software. Defendant moved to suppress the expert's conclusory testimony on the grounds that he was unqualified and used unreliable methodology to reach his conclusion. See Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, 509 U.S. 579 (1993).

The diRead More...

United States v. Garza, No. 09-50222 (9th Cir. 1-11-2011) [Unpublished]

Frederick Lane — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 15:55:05 +0100

Sentence affirmed -- Defendant was convicted of receiving child pornography and was sentenced to twelve years in prison. Defendant argued that the district court inappropriately enhanced his sentence two levels for sadistic or masochistic content, and two levels for using a computer. The Court of Appeals said that record was clear that the material received by defendant included sadistic or masochistic images. The Court also noted that defendant not only used a computer to receive child pornoRead More...

United States v. Miller, NO. 09-CR-30136-WDS (S.D.Ill. 1-7-2011)

Frederick Lane — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 17:56:29 +0100

Motion in Limine Denied -- Defendant was charged with possession, receipt, distribution, and attempted distribution of child pornography. In a pre-trial motion, defendant sought to limit the government from playing anything more than brief excerpts of the alleged contraband, on the grounds that it would take "hours" and be "profoundly disturbing and distressing." The defendant asked the court to limit the number of videos introduced to just 15, and to restrict playback to a few seconds each. Read More...

United States v. Howard, Criminal Action 10-0208-KD (S.D. Ala. 1-5-2011)

Frederick Lane — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 04:28:26 +0100

Search Upheld — Defendant was accused of rape by his adult daughter; 12 years earlier, she had been taken from defendant's home following allegations of molestation. At the time of the rape charge, defendant was on probation for a drug offense. As a condition of probation, defendant agreed to warrantless searches by probation officers. In addition to the rape charge, there were numerous allegations that defendant was dealing drugs.

During a search of defendant's home, officersRead More...

Ohio Medical Voyeur Pleads No Contest, May Appeal Warrantless Search of SIM Chips

Frederick Lane — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 17:52:45 +0100

Jaime Aguirre, a 43-year-old Ohio medical imaging technician accused of taking hundreds of surreptitious nude and semi-nude photos of patients at Advanced Medical Imaging in Tiffin, Ohio, pleaded "no contest" to 15 child pornography charges in a Portage County courthouse. Additional child pornography and voyeurism charges were filed against Aguirre in Seneca County (where AMI is located) after a forensic examination of his home computer revealed more patient photos. Police also found hundredsRead More...

GPS Forensics Helps Police Locate Body of Missing Man

Frederick Lane — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 03:52:20 +0100

Last week, authorities used a new branch of computer forensics -- GPS forensics -- to help locate the body of a missing Peoria, AZ man. The case offers a glimpse into one of the rapidly-growing specialties in the computer forensics industry.

A short time before Christmas, James Jay Keefer, 55, told friends that he was heading off to do some exploring near Kingman, about three hours northwest of Glendale. When he failed to return, friends and family reported him missing.

Read More...

"GreatGamere" Sentenced to Five Years in Prison for Child Pornography

Frederick Lane — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 19:20:05 +0100

Long-time Boston sportscaster and "Candlepins for Cash" host Bob Gamere, 71, was sentenced to five years in federal prison last Wednesday, following U.S. District Court Judge William Young's acceptance of the plea agreement Gamere and his attorney, William H. Kettlewell, worked out with Assistant US Attorney Robert Richardson.

Young ordered that Gamere be taken into custody and begin serving his sentence immediately, denying Kettlewell's request that Gamere be given time to say goodbyRead More...

Twitter Comment Lands British Man in Jail

Frederick Lane — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 03:37:17 +0100

This blawg, as most readers know, is primarily focused on computer forensics in the United States, but it is a worthwhile reminder every so often that CF is a global industry. Among other things, the stories of computer forensic investigations in other countries help underscore the importance of defending the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Case in point: in Britain recently, snow shut down flights from the Robin Hood airport in Doncaster. A man named Paul Chambers had goneRead More...

Ohio Ultrasound Voyeur May See More Jail Time for Child Pornography

Frederick Lane — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 17:51:41 +0100

Last September, I wrote about the travails of Jamie Aguirre, an ultrasound technician at Advanced Medical Imaging in Tiffin, Ohio, whose penchant for secretly videotaping undressed and sedated patients, and collecting X-rays of public areas, came to light after he was pulled over for a traffic violation.

Not surprisingly, the discovery of the illicit images in Aguirre's car was used as a basis for a search warrant of his home. Authorities collected a variety of computer-related items,Read More...

U.S. Supreme Court to Decide if Employee Texts Are Private

Frederick Lane — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 04:11:23 +0100

Later this spring, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear a case, Ontario v. Quon, with potentially broad implications for the nation's increasingly text-addicted workforce. At issue is whether an employee has a privacy interest in the contents of personal text messages sent using employer equipment.

The case was filed by Sergeant Jeff Quon, a member of the Ontario, CA SWAT team, after superiors requested copies of the text messages that he sent using his department-issued pager. The OntarioRead More...

Diary of an Entrapment? Vanity Fair Studies a Sexual Predator Case

Frederick Lane — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 15:59:34 +0100

In the December 2009 issue of Vanity Fair, contributing editor Mark Bowden takes a close look at an Internet sexual predator case and raises some interesting questions about police investigative procedures.

The article weaves together interviews with both the online detective, Michele Deery, and the perpetrator, a man Bowden calls only "J." Also interspersed throughout are excerpts from their online dialogue, much of which Bowden said could not be printed in the magazine.

Among Read More...

D.C. Superior Court Rejects Defendant's Request to Inspect Judge's Computer

Frederick Lane — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 15:50:52 +0100

A defense counsel request to conduct a forensic examination of a magistrate judge's computer and cellphone was firmly rejected by the District of Columbia Superior Court last week. The Court also rejected defense counsel's petition to have the entire Superior Court recuse itself from hearing the stalking complaint of their colleague, Magistrate Judge Janet Albert.

Taylar Nuevelle, 40, was accused by Albert last April of breaking into her home and sending her threatening emails and texRead More...

Buffalo School Board President Fights Pornography Allegations

Frederick Lane — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 19:21:01 +0100

A draft report of a state audit of Buffalo School System computers reportedly contains allegations that pornography was downloaded onto a laptop used by school board president Ralph Hernandez. The controversy is helping to underscore the perils of increased computer use by public officials in all aspects of their work.

According to individuals with access to the draft audit report, the routine investigation by the office of New York comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli found 15 Buffalo schooRead More...