Cyber Tip Information Contained in a Search Warrant Affidavit is Considered Reliable (Peo. v. Rowland, 6DCA, #H048799, 9/3/22)

CASE ALERT

By: Ray Hill, Professor Emeritus, Santa Rosa J.C.

Cyber Tip Information Contained in a Search Warrant Affidavit is Considered Reliable (Peo. v. Rowland, 6DCA, #H048799, 9/3/22).

   Here is a child pornography case of “first impression” originating out of Los Altos P.D., Mountain View P.D. and the Silicon Valley Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. This is the first California case establishing precedent that there is a presumption of reliability in the reporting of child sexual exploitation tips received in the course of business from a third-party communication service.

   Detectives received files from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) containing two images of suspected child pornography that had been uploaded from an identified I.P. address. The files were sent to the NCMEC by a Microsoft Online Operations employee after the images were identified by hashing technology and viewed, The Child Victim Identification Network confirmed the identity of one victim and that she was underage. Detectives sought a search warrant to obtain I.D. information on the account holder’s I.P. address and a second search warrant to search the defendant’s residence. A thumb drive was recovered containing 1000 images and 25 videos of child pornography. Defendant was convicted in Santa Clara County Superior Court.

   So, there is a move to quash the search warrant arguing three legal points (you gotta love defense counsel!).

1. The search warrant affidavit and not contain any identifying information on the Microsoft employee who viewed the files and forwarded them to the NCMEC. Thus, the information supplied was an uncorroborated, “anonymous tip” and unreliable.

2. The affidavit description of two images, of one underage female (10-13 years old) sitting in a partially filled bathtub, naked ....

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