Police Officer Facing Child Pornography Charges

A 48-year-old man was suspended from the Chamblee Police Department while authorities investigate charges of online child pornography distribution.

The Chamblee Police Department said it is aware of the criminal charges pending against one of its employees. It immediately relieved him of his duties pending the outcome of the investigation.

According to the GBI, the investigation into the defendant’s online activity started after it received a Cyber Tip line Report from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children about the possible online possession and distribution of child sexual abuse material. The investigation was conducted with the Chamblee Police Department’s cooperation, the GBI said. A search warrant was issued, which led to the officer’s subsequent arrest.

The man was booked into jail on multiple charges.

Online Criminal Matters

User authentication is a significant issue in computer crimes. Anyone with a username and password can access an account at any time. Furthermore, unauthorized hacks have more than doubled since 2020. Roughly half of Americans have been hacked during that time period alone. This observation and statistic, by themselves, are enough to create a doubt as to the defendant’s identity, albeit probably not a reasonable doubt. To create such a doubt, a Marietta criminal defense lawyer must go the extra mile.

Most people prefer ease of access over security. They don’t like to feel as if their computer is on lockdown every time they surf the web. Therefore, individual computer security protocol is often low. Additionally, computer login data is much like a house key. If you give that information to someone, that person has it forever, unless you change your password frequently. Once again, most people don’t do that.

Furthermore, many hackers aren’t after money. Instead, they want to embarrass the account holder, or prove to themselves (or to someone else) that they have the necessary hacking skills.

These additional details might not be sufficient to create a reasonable doubt either. But they do force the state to expend considerable energy, and resources, simply establishing the defendant’s identity. As a result, prosecutors often have less energy, and fewer resources, to prove the essential elements of the offense. More on that below.

On a related note, courts have established a privacy interest in smartphones, laptops, and all other electronic devices. Officers cannot force owners to disclose anything past the home screen of a device.

Tipsters and Search Warrants

Pure-hearted tipsters are few and far between. Almost all tipsters have a selfish reason for coming forward. This motivation taints the information they provide.

In terms of their personal motives, tipsters resemble hackers. Many tipsters want to embarrass a defendant to cause trouble for that person. Others want to gain leverage in another proceeding, like a family law case. This unsavory motive is especially common in sex crimes against minors.

Anonymous tipsters are usually unreliable as well. If the tipster isn’t willing to vouch for the information provided, there’s no reason for a judge to give it any greater weight.

Other informants are paid informants. And we don’t mean a few dollars. Over about a seven-year period, the FBI doled out over $540 million to informants. These individuals included an airline employee who received more than $600,000 in less than four years, and a parcel employee who received over $1 million over five years. We understand that, in many cases, these individuals take considerable personal risks. Still, that’s enough money to influence almost anyone to say almost anything.

Rollover informants are common in many cases as well. If you give us a name and tell us what you know, we’ll dismiss or reduce the criminal charges pending against you. Once again, many people would say almost anything in such a situation.

The information that informants provide may well be accurate. But that doesn’t make the information reliable. A broken clock, although clearly unreliable, is accurate twice a day.

Once again, these motivations may not be sufficient to create reasonable doubt. The uncorroborated testimony of a paid informant, however, is another matter. This corroborating evidence must be more than coincidental.

When they assess informant reliability, judges usually consider several factors, such as the source of the tip, the specificity of the information, and the information’s shelf life. Information about criminal matters quickly becomes outdated.

Search warrant issues are especially common in cases, like child pornography cases, that involve lengthy investigations. Frequently, by the end of such a probe, investigators are so anxious to make an arrest that they take shortcuts.

Defenses to Child Pornography Distribution

You cannot distribute what you do not have. In Georgia, criminal possession has three basic elements. We discussed one (control) above. Proximity, the second issue, is usually a gimme. The third element of possession (knowledge) is far from a gimme, especially in online crimes.

Without this knowledge requirement, many people would be guilty of illegal possession right now. Unsavory emails are a good example. Usually, these emails go directly to a spam folder. They’re on the computer, but the owner doesn’t know about them.

Thumbnail images are another example. The picture may be illegal, but the image is so small that it’s impossible to tell for sure.

In rare situations, the entrapment defense is available in these cases. Normally, a police officer poses as an underage girl. Entrapment rarely holds up in court, because a Marietta criminal defense attorney must prove the defendant had no predisposition to commit the crime. If the defendant is in a sex chat room or messaging with someone s/he believes is underage, the defendant clearly had some disposition to commit the crime.

In some cases, undercover officers can commit crimes to induce the defendant to commit a crime. Between 2011 and 2015, the FBI authorized informants to commit 22,000 crimes.

On a related note, undercover officers don’t have to disclose their identities when confronted. We’re not sure how this urban myth got started. However, if officers lie about their identities, that dishonesty affects their credibility on the stand.

Online sex crimes are difficult to prove in court. For a free consultation with an experienced Marietta criminal defense lawyer, contact The Phillips Law Firm, LLC. The sooner you reach out to us, the sooner we start working for you.