State v. Mr. B (DMC No. 16898) – (6 Counts) Felony Sexual Exploitation of a Minor/Child Pornography (Dangerous Crimes Against Children) – Not Charged/”Turned Down” by the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office – Glendale Police Department Investigated (DR No. I1XXXXXX6) and Search Warrant No. (20XX-XXXXXX6)
Mr. B was an elderly gentleman who lived in Sun City. He had taken his laptop computer into Best Buy to have it repaired by the “Geek Squad”. While they were repairing the device, they came across images what they construed to be Child Pornography. They contacted the Glendale Police Department, and they instructed the employees to call Mr. B to set up a meeting with him the next day.
When he showed up the next day, the Police came in and read him his Miranda Rights and questioned him. He stated that he used “LimeWire”, which is a “peer-to-peer” file sharing network. He claimed he would download Adult Pornography, but never Child Pornography. He then gave the Police the passwords to his laptop, and to his cellphone. They checked his cellphone, and discovered there was No Child Pornography on it. As to the laptop, it was taken into evidence to be analyzed by the Police Department’s Forensic Experts. After Mr. B was released, he contacted DM Cantor and retained our services.
Once we were on board, we contacted the Detective and gave them an Invocation of Mr. B’s Right to Remain Silent. In addition, we had our own Forensic Expert analyze a “clone” of the hard drive, and the six images that the state had claimed were Child Pornography, five of them were ruled out. On the final image, the Police stated they had enough evidence to route the case to the County Attorney’s Office for Prosecution.
When the case went to the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office, we filed a “Trebus-Bashir” letter. We also contacted the Prosecutor, and explained this was a completely inadvertent download. It’s very unusual to only have a single image, if the person is actually a purveyor of Child Pornography. Ultimately, the State agreed Not to File any Charges against Mr. B. If he had been convicted of even a single charge, he would have spent between 10 to 24 years in Prison. Given his advanced age, that would have been a Life Sentence.
