Computer Seizure

[STINGER]

What is the name of your state? Indiana

9-13-07

Police serve warrant to search and seize basically anything that could be used to make, watch or distribute child porn.

The take (1) computer, mine (which everyone uses) and inform us that in April they were tipped that child porn was dled at my house. I have (3) computers but only one connected to INet.

Back in April during spring break i came home early and found my step son on my computer. His mother had allowed him back on the computer after a long term of grounding from it when he was caught surfing porn. When I caught him I then went thru things and found a bunch of crap including some stuff label "teens/child" and of course i immediately was ticked and showed his mother the files (didnt view them just showed her the listings) and then I promptly deleted them and of course lectured/explained the possible crap that can happen with child porn also explained the moral issues in hopes the boy would not do it again. He had recently turned 17 at the time. Well it seems that he just happened to DL something that was being watched.

They have now had my computer for 2 weeks as of tomorrow, and I do realize this stuff can take time but the detective just informed me today that they just submitted it for a full florensic investigation. On Friday they talked to my son, older son who was living with us back in April. They told him that my step sons "My Space" was logged when these files were dled but they also threated my son who is 21 with a felony charge during their talk. I am guessing they were trying to push more info out of him.

I guess my question here is basically, "What is the procedure" for something like this? Timing? They had my box 2 weeks before submitting it for testing.

The detective promised to expedite the investigation and hasnt even posed one question to me about the whole case. Now, it leaves me wondering a bit on whether he feels I have nothing to do with it other than it being my computer, or if they are trying to apply pressure to my sons to get to me?

I assure you that I have had nothing to do with this crap being dled and I am 100% positive that it can be proven if needed that I couldnt of done it as the same investigation done on my home computer could be done on mine at work and show i was at work. Unfortunately I do have a salary position so there is no time card to go to but they do track when i am here and when I am not.

I am 100% positive that we have a case of a minor that was screwing around and got some bad stuff whether it was him or one of his friends. I have found out during this ordeal that there have been many other of his friends allowed on the computer by him which wasnt to be allowed.

Do you have any other advice on the issue other than my procedure question?

I have not sought legal council on this matter. It is a great deal of money that I cannot afford to throw away when at this time there are no charges.

Thank you for your time!

 

[Just Blue]

You need to hire an attorney. The potential seriousness of the charges are too great to wait.

Step-son need to get counseling...like yesterday!!

Don't expect your computers back for at least 6 months...

 

[xylene]

If your kid had a FOLDER FULL of files labled 'child porn' he had done it more than once.

Stop cooperating with the police.

Get a lawyer.

Take out a second mortgage, do whatever is needed to get the kid into an inpatient facility

 

[outonbail]

The first thing you should be doing, or not doing, is talking with the police and/or detectives investigating this situation. You should advise your stepson not to talk to the police either.

I would recommend talking to a lawyer and putting him on retainer so if the police want to again question either you, your step son or any other family members, that you refer them to your lawyer.

Your step son will only end up telling on himself and anyone else he is asked about. Do not allow him to speak to the detectives!

If you've never been in trouble with the law you are probably not aware of the fact that the police are allowed to lie to you and promise you the world, in an attempt to get you or your step son to admit to a crime.

Example:

Detective: "Listen, we know this is just some stupid kid stuff and your going through a phase, all kids do it. We just need to be sure that no one is downloading this material to distribute it to other people. So just tell me exactly what you did and then we can all go home and put this behind us OK?" "Now if you don't want to cooperate then we will be here all night and I'm sure you want to go home as bad as I do so tell me what you did and I promise not to tell your parents"

Stepson: "OK, I know it was stupid but me and my friends were just messing around and we tried to find some child porn on the inernet, then we printed some pictures to show a friend at school. But we only did it once or twice"

and there you have it, a confession that will send him away for a while. Everyone goes home except the step son, who goes to jail or to juvie hall. They may be able to try him as an adult and the sexual related offense will haunt him for the rest of his life. He may have to register with the police as a sex offender wherever he lives from the day of conviction forward. He may also implicate you in this crime. After all, you were aware of him doing this in the past but didn't take any necessary measures to ensure he didn't continue the practice.

This is how the police will look at it anyway.

So do not discuss this case with the detectives!
Hopefully it's not already too late to follow this advice.

 

[CdwJava]

If there IS any porn (and from the sound of things, there was), everyone needs an attorney ASAP. Because of the exposure that YOU have, it might be in your best interest to hire two attorneys - one for your step son who seems to be the culprit, and one for the rest of you. His attorney might find that accusing YOU or another family member would be a good way to cast reasonable doubt on the state's accusation against your stepson.

And do not expect to get the computers back until after any trial has run its course. In other words, don't count on getting them back at all. A good forensics investigation might be months away, and a trial could be even further out. I have yet to ever return a computer seized in one of these investigations ... largely because it is evidence of a felony and it is generally policy and practice to hold onto the evidence at least through the potential appellate period after the initial conviction.

- Carl

 

[mike_lee]

Sell whatever you have to and hire an attorney quick. You don't understand the gravity of the situation. Forget those computers, they are gone. If there IS child porn on them they, by law. have to be destroyed - if not like the man said 6th months to a year before you see them gain. You need to get your own copy of the hard drives for your defense. (they copy the hard drive in it's entirety)

If they were tipped it was your ISP who tipped them - that's a pretty strong tip that will come with log files. If you can show you were at work that's good. If you have open access (wireless) that's also good (unless the **** is on your hard drives)

Only the guilty cooperate with the police.

 

[Zigner]

If there IS child porn on them they, by law. have to be destroyed

What law is that?

 

[CdwJava]

Only the guilty cooperate with the police.

???

Most people who are NOT guilty cooperate with the police ... the guilty just tend to lie under the guise of cooperation in an effort to cover their tails.

- Carl

 

[HomeGuru]

Sell whatever you have to and hire an attorney quick. You don't understand the gravity of the situation. Forget those computers, they are gone. If there IS child porn on them they, by law. have to be destroyed - if not like the man said 6th months to a year before you see them gain. You need to get your own copy of the hard drives for your defense. (they copy the hard drive in it's entirety)

If they were tipped it was your ISP who tipped them - that's a pretty strong tip that will come with log files. If you can show you were at work that's good. If you have open access (wireless) that's also good (unless the **** is on your hard drives)

Only the guilty cooperate with the police.

**A: your post is way way off. Where do you get yourinformation from?

 

[mike_lee]

Well, I erred I should say the computer which is now contraband must be forfeited and the hard drives must be destroyed. In no case have I ever heard of computers returned to a guilty party.

18 U.S.C. §§ 2254
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and in Indiana

Amends Child Exploitation statute to include knowingly or intentionally making “available to another person a computer, knowing that the computer's fixed drive or peripheral device contains matter that depicts or describes sexual conduct by a child less than 18 years of age.” Increases the penalty from a Class D Felony to a Class C Felony. Amends forfeiture statute to allow for seizure and forfeiture of equipment used to photograph or disseminate matter in violation of child exploitation statute.
--------------------------------------------------------

All computer forensic labs are backed up 8-12 months as of today

The "only the guilty" comment was just a play off the previous post. I didn't mean to start a doctrine, however I have noticed guilty people tend to go out of their way to be helpful. The first thing a lawyer tells you is don't talk to the police.

 

[Zigner]

...the hard drives must be destroyed. ...

Again - the code does not say that.

 

[CJane]

Again - the code does not say that.

Yeah, I didn't see that either.

 

[STINGER]

All computer forensic labs are backed up 8-12 months as of today

Not this one!

Thursday last week i was informed that the forensic investigation had been completed and if i wanted to pick up the computer "without hard drive" I could get it that day, or if i wanted it with the HD it would take longer to get that taken care of. Now, i still dont have the machine back but it has only been a couple of business days but I do hope to get it back some time this week. I will update and close this thread once I finalize this.

Thanks for your posts....

 

[xylene]

You are sweating the computer?

Tell us about your son's case and the counseling you are getting him!

 

[mike_lee]

Sounds like they are not going to analyze it so congrats you are likely free and clear. (not to imply you did anything but even innocent people would rather not go through a trial) The local police will do a preliminary check (examine temp folder, page file and internet history, look for hidden folders or suspicions programs like KGB then they do a simple jpeg search if they don't find anything they don't send it into a regional lab.

An encase inspection is easy to beat for anyone who takes the time to be cautious - encase relies on the mistakes of computer uses. Many hackers and privacy minded people today operate their computer entirely in ram using a live cd (pe disk)