Posted on 01/09/2017 6:59:20 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
Law enforcement has a number of informants working for it and the companies that already pay their paychecks, like UPS, for example. It also has a number of government employees working for the TSA, keeping their eyes peeled for "suspicious" amounts of cash it can swoop in and seize.
Unsurprisingly, the FBI also has a number of paid informants. Some of these informants apparently work at Best Buy -- Geek Squad by day, government informants by… well, also by day.
According to court records, Geek Squad technician John "Trey" Westphal, an FBI informant, reported he accidentally located on Rettenmaier's computer an image of "a fully nude, white prepubescent female on her hands and knees on a bed, with a brown choker-type collar around her neck." Westphal notified his boss, Justin Meade, also an FBI informant, who alerted colleague Randall Ratliff, another FBI informant at Best Buy, as well as the FBI. Claiming the image met the definition of child pornography and was tied to a series of illicit pictures known as the "Jenny" shots, agent Tracey Riley seized the hard drive.
Not necessarily a problem, considering companies performing computer/electronic device repair are legally required to report discovered child porn to law enforcement. The difference here is the paycheck. This Geek Squad member had been paid $500 for digging around in customers' computers and reporting his findings to the FBI. That changes the motivation from legal obligation to a chance to earn extra cash by digging around in files not essential to the repair work at hand.
More of a problem is the FBI's tactics. While it possibly could have simply pointed to the legal obligation Best Buy has to report discovered child porn, it proactively destroyed this argument by apparently trying to cover up the origin of its investigation, as well as a couple of warrantless searches.
Setting aside the issue of whether the search of Rettenmaier's computer constituted an illegal search by private individuals acting as government agents, the FBI undertook a series of dishonest measures in hopes of building a case, according to James D. Riddet, Rettenmaier's San Clemente-based defense attorney. Riddet says agents conducted two additional searches of the computer without obtaining necessary warrants, lied to trick a federal magistrate judge into authorizing a search warrant, then tried to cover up their misdeeds by initially hiding records.
The "private search" issue is mentioned briefly in OC Weekly's report, but should be examined more closely. Private searches are acceptable, but the introduction of cash payments, as well as the FBI having an official liaison with Best Buy suggests the searches aren't really "private." Instead, the FBI appears to be using private searches to route around warrant requirements. That's not permissible and even the FBI's belief that going after the "worst of worst" isn't going to be enough to salvage these warrantless searches.
As Andrew Fleischman points out at Fault Lines, the government's spin on the paid "private search" issue -- that it's "wild speculation" the Best Buy employee was acting as a paid informant when he discovered the child porn -- doesn't hold up if the situation is reversed. AUSA Anthony Brown's defensive statement is nothing more than the noise of a double standard being erected.
Flipping the script for a minute, would an AUSA say it was “wild speculation” that a man was a drug dealer when phone records showed he regularly contacted a distributor, he was listed as a drug dealer in a special book of drug dealers, and he had received $500.00 for drugs? Sorry to break it to you, Mr. Brown, but once you start getting paid for something, it’s tough to argue you’re just doing it for the love of the game.
In addition to these problems, the file discovered by the Best Buy tech was in unallocated space… something that points to almost nothing, legally-speaking.
[I]n Rettenmaier's case, the alleged "Jenny" image was found on unallocated "trash" space, meaning it could only be retrieved by "carving" with costly, highly sophisticated forensics tools. In other words, it's arguable a computer's owner wouldn't know of its existence. (For example, malware can secretly implant files.) Worse for the FBI, a federal appellate court unequivocally declared in February 2011 (USA v. Andrew Flyer) that pictures found on unallocated space did not constitute knowing possession because it is impossible to determine when, why or who downloaded them.
This important detail was apparently glossed over in the FBI's warrant application to search Rettenmaier's home and personal devices.
In hopes of overcoming this obstacle, they performed a sleight-of-hand maneuver, according to Riddet. The agents simply didn't alert Judge Marc Goldman that the image in question had been buried in unallocated space and, thus, secured deceitful authorization for a February 2012 raid on Rettenmaier's Laguna Niguel residence.
Courts have shown an often-excessive amount of empathy for the government's "outrageous" behavior when pursuing criminals. The fact that there's child porn involved budges the needle in the government's direction, but the obstacles the FBI has placed in its own way through its deceptive behavior may prevent it from salvaging this case.
The case is already on very shaky ground, with the presiding judge questioning agents' "odd memory losses," noting several discrepancies between the FBI's reports and its testimony, and its "perplexing" opposition to turning over documents the defense has requested.
In any event, it appears the FBI has a vast network of informants -- paid or otherwise -- working for both private companies and the federal government. Considering the FBI is already the beneficiary of legal reporting requirements, this move seems ill-advised. It jeopardizes the legitimacy of the evidence, even before the FBI engages in the sort of self-sabotaging acts it appears to have done here.
Underneath it all is the perplexing and disturbing aversion to adhering to the Fourth Amendment we've seen time and time again from law enforcement agencies, both at local and federal levels. Anything that can be done to avoid seeking a warrant, and anything that creates an obfuscatory paper trail, is deployed to make sure the accused faces an even more uphill battle once they arrive in court.
As long as whomever is watching any follower of islam closely, dilligaf.
Eliminate the evil among us and those that may follow the death cult of islam.
Jihadists are exempt. Every one of them have long been on radar, sometimes questioned over threats they’ve publicly made, and each time they were cut loose to go ahead and eventually strike down Americans.
Sgt. Akbar, the Boston bombers, the Orlando shooter, the San Bernadino couple, the Florida airport shooter, on and on...
So...it's possible a Best Buy employee could put the image there himself and collect the $500...
The Geek Squad/others could plant some images or information on your computer so they can later “discover” it for a paycheck. Nice scam.
It doesn’t take a Geek Squader to find a Jihadi who walks into their local FBI office with a gun and announce ISIS is telling them to kill people.
it does take a Keystone Kop to give them their gun back & send them on their way.
Yes. And it’s finally coming to light. God bless our new President Donald Trump.
This idiocy will end soon. islam can NOT be allowed to destroy America like it has destroyed every other country it has infiltrated.
No quarter.
I was at a Best Buy in Fort Worth last year and a total stranger approached me and started talking about how Obama needed to be killed. I told him to leave me alone and walked away.
Nut case or Fed instigator, I don’t know.
So the FBI is emulating the actions of Russia’s Federal Security Service.
It comes to light each time there is a domestic terrorist attack in America. Within a week of each attack the authorities admit that they’d already been informed of these violent supremacists’ deadly rhetoric.
The only reason that POS got his gun back is because he was colored, islamic and stupid beyond abortion approved.
Sterilize islam first and then africa is that does not stop this insanity.
islam and pinched off wasted child can not be sustained.
Geek Squad doesn’t hire anything but the biggest of incompetent dumbasses anyway.
So...it’s possible a Best Buy employee could put the image there himself and collect the $500...
= = =
Depending on his level of desperation, it might even be an image of himself.
Thank you for that angle, in the midst of calling balls and strikes, you rightfully ring the bell for the possibilities of framing American activists.
This oughtta do WONDERS for the bu$ine$$...!
“This Geek Squad member had been paid $500 for digging around in customers’ computers and reporting his findings to the FBI.”
The BIGGER PROBLEM here is that it also gives employees INCENTIVES to load that type of porn on the computers of unsuspecting customers.
That’s why I simply destroy and THROW OUT my computers when they break - I trust NO ONE with my hard drives.
Ditto.
That will get the FBI nothing, the geek squad are not that good. Maybe get the FBI some higher quality porn then they download at work, that is about it I would think.
Too much of the article is “according to James D. Riddet, Rettenmaier’s San Clemente-based defense attorney”.
A balanced article would be nore persuasive.
But more work for the reporters of course.
Glad the def lawyer is pushing it in the courts, but will wait on their decision.
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