The Use of a Ruse by Law Enforcement

Law Enforcement’s Use of a Ruse and the Fourth Amendment

Lawful vs. Unlawful Ruses

A law enforcement officer may not constitutionally use a ruse that involves him misrepresenting his or her authority.  A federal officer claiming to be a state law enforcement officer, and luring a suspect back to the scene of the execution of a search warrant under false pretenses, violates the public trust and is a Fourth Amendment violation.

Investigating the Internet distribution of child pornography, the FBI looked into something called “BitTorrent,” described as a file sharing network that is publicly available and which uses peer-to-peer file-sharing, allowing a computer to share and download files from other computers.  This led to an Internet protocol (“IP”) address at an account registered to defendant Stefan Ramirez’s at his home address in Fresno.  In checking defendant’s IP address, the FBI conducted 23 separate download sessions in November and December 2016, involving over 4,000 still images and 20 videos of suspected child pornography.  Conducting a physical surveillance on ....