State v. Mr. R (DMC No. 15815) – (4 Counts) Federal Felony Sexual Exploitation of a Minor/Child Pornography (Per 18 USC 2252) – Not Charged/”Turned Down” by the US Attorney’s Office in Flagstaff – FBI Investigated (Case No. 20XX-XXXX2MB)

Mr. R lived in the Camp Verde area in Northern Arizona, and he shared his house with his two sons who were 18 and 16, along with his wife. On his home computer, he had a “BitTorent” file sharing network downloaded. On these networks, you must consent to allow everybody to have access to your files, and you have access to everybody else’s files. Mr. R downloaded a cluster of normal movies by clicking “browse all”, and some of those downloads contained Child Pornography. This triggered an FBI database “hit”, and they executed a Search Warrant on Mr. R’s home. After he and his 16-year-old son were handcuffed and questioned, he was then released and secured the services of DM Cantor.

When we met with Mr. R, we discussed the facts of the case. He had indicated that he had told the FBI that on one of the downloads, he saw Child Pornography pop up, and he immediately wiped his hard drive and “sanitized” it. Because he worked in the computer industry, he conducted what’s known as a “Department of Defense Sanitization”, and said that it should be completely removed from his computer. In addition, we had Mr. R take a Polygraph, in which he “passed”, indicating that he was truthful.

We then reached out to the FBI Agent in charge and the Assistant US Attorney in Flagstaff, and explained that he did not intentionally download any Child Pornography. In addition, we told them that the computers that had seized would have no evidence of any Child Pornography, because his computer had been “sanitized.” Although they were skeptical of Mr. R’s explanation, they did agree that without the actual evidence on his computers they would not be able to move forward with the case. The case was “Turned Down” and Mr. R has No Criminal Record.