A doctor's computer in California was searched after being repaired by a geek squad submitted to Best Buy, and the doctor's child pornography case has been dismissed, because a judge ruled that FBI agents were "misleading statements or omissions reports. . .
Reckless disregard of the truth in the warrant affidavit ".
The case against oncologist Mark Rettenmaier has drawn national attention as it reveals that technicians at the central repair facility of the Kentucky Geek Squad have been paid by the FBI, and when they find out that there may be child pornography on the computer
Computers brought to Best Buy stores across the country for repair are shipped to factories in Kentucky.
In May, the Electronic Frontier Foundation filed a lawsuit against the Justice Department asking for "a record of the FBI's relationship with Best Buy and other computer repair facilities ".
"On February, after The Washington Post reported the connection between Best Buy and the FBI, the privacy organization first filed a request for freedom of information law with the FBI, but the FBI refused to disclose the information.
Best Buy said its technicians would not search for customer computers seeking illegal materials, but were obliged to report them when they happened to see illegal materials during repairs.
A spokesman for Best Buy said they do so 100 times a year.
In a statement by May, the company said: "The Geek Squad does not work for the FBI, nor has it ever worked . ".
When Rettenmaier brought his HP Pavilion desktop to Best Buy in Mission Viejo, California.
On 2011, he agreed to search for it when it was fixed to retrieve the missing photo.
No search warrant is required for such a search.
But Rettenmaier's lawyer, James D.
Riddet found that some of the FBI's technicians who disclosed pornographic information to them paid, usually about $500, and considered them "confidential manpower in their internal records
Riddet raised the question of whether this made the employees of the geek squad an employee of the FBI --
Therefore, government agents who need a search warrant.
On Rettenmaier's computer, a technician found a nude photo of a 9-year-old girl in the "unallocated space" on Rettenmaier's hard drive.
It does not show the genitals or any sexual behavior of the girl.
Unallocated space is where the deleted data resides on the computer before it is overwritten by other data.
But it usually doesn't have metadata, such as the time it took to create, access, or delete it. The court ruled that if there was no other evidence, the photos found in the unallocated space could not be "occupied" by the computer owner ".
Riddet believes that when the geek team went deep into the unallocated space, they were looking for something beyond the standard data recovery to try to help the FBI. But U. S.
Judge Mark J.
Carney rejected the argument.
The Geek Squad technician testified that he was just trying to retrieve photos of all the customers, wherever they were.
The judge pointed out that Best Buy warned customers that Best Buy would notify the authorities if illegal materials were found.
After he handed the computer over to Best Buy, he said, "Rettenmaier's expectation of privacy" and repeatedly agreed to the data recovery service, which is not legal or reasonable for the society to be prepared to admit
But the FBI used the findings of this photo to search Rettenmaier's home and other computers.
When Rettenmaier returned home, his iPhone was confiscated.
Federal prosecutors say there are hundreds of pornographic photos on the photo.
Carney said the search is illegal because if FBI agents accurately describe what was originally found on a computer in Rettenmaier, Kentucky, the search would not be authorized.
Special Agent Cynthia Keller "falsely stated in the affidavit [for the search warrant [child]
The images are child pornography, "Carney said at a hearing at the federal court in Santa Ana, California.
"It's child pornography and it's not illegal to own and watch child pornography.
The judge noted that Kayle also did not state that the image was found in the unallocated space of the Rettenmaier computer, and that three separate searches were performed on the hard disk to find the image.
Carney said: "This child porn picture is not enough to search for a doctor at all.
The entire home of Rettenmaier, the Fourth Amendment to the most powerful place to protect.
The judge will then hide all the evidence that will be seized from Rettenmaier's house, including the photos on his mobile phone.
The federal prosecutor initially filed a notice of appeal.
But they missed the deadline for the submission of the first brief, and on Monday filed a motion stating that "after the court ruled on the defendant's suppression motion, the remaining evidence was assessed, the government believes it is in the interests of justice to dismiss the case.
Carney subsequently dismissed the case.
Riddet said: "I think what that means, the FBI needs to be more careful about their statements in the warrant affidavit and make sure they tell the judge what the facts are.
If they do so in this case, I don't think the warrant will be issued.