United States v. Sasiadek

310 F. Supp. 3d 371
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. New York
DecidedApril 17, 2018
Docket1:15–CR–00159 EAW
StatusPublished

This text of 310 F. Supp. 3d 371 (United States v. Sasiadek) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Sasiadek, 310 F. Supp. 3d 371 (W.D.N.Y. 2018).

Opinion

ELIZABETH A. WOLFORD, United States District Judge

INTRODUCTION

Defendant Daniel G. Sasiadek ("Defendant") is charged in an eight-count Superseding Indictment ("Indictment"), returned on May 5, 2016, with one count of production of child pornography, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2251(a) and (e), and seven counts of possession of child pornography, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2252A(a)(5)(B) and (b)(2). (Dkt. 19). Presently before the Court is the Report and Recommendation ("R & R") of Magistrate Judge Hugh B. Scott, recommending that this Court deny Defendant's motions to suppress evidence derived from the execution of a search warrant. (Dkt. 30 at 3 (Motion to Suppress); Dkt. 87 (Letter Motion); Dkt. 93 (R & R) ). Defendant objects to the R & R. (Dkt. 101). For the reasons set forth below, the Court adopts the R & R in its entirety and denies Defendant's motions to suppress evidence.

BACKGROUND

Magistrate Judge Scott observed that the facts leading to Defendant's arrest are undisputed. (Dkt. 93 at 2). Indeed, Defendant does not dispute the background and facts set forth by Magistrate Judge Scott in the R & R and assumes familiarity with them in his objections. (See Dkt. 101 at 1 (assuming "familiarity with the case background and facts as they are set out in Judge Scott's R & R") ). The Court incorporates the facts recounted in the R & R (Dkt. 93 at 1-8) and summarizes them below.

I. The NIT Warrant

Playpen was a secret website containing mostly child pornography, although some portion of the content would not meet the statutory criteria for child pornography. It operated as a "hidden service" on the "dark web" and was accessible only through a network known as The Onion Router or "Tor." (Dkt. 42 at 65-66). Playpen did not collect or store its visitors' Internet Protocol ("IP") addresses, thus providing anonymity to its users. (Id. ). Moreover, Playpen encouraged users to mask their identities by using fake names and email addresses. (See id. at 69).

In February 2015, the FBI seized and took over Playpen, but because Playpen masks its users' IP addresses, FBI agents could not identify or locate Playpen users.

*374(Id. at 31). To bypass the Playpen's anonymity, FBI agents deployed a tactic called a Network Investigative Technique ("NIT"). (See id. ). The NIT is a software that installed itself surreptitiously once a Playpen user logged onto the website and reached the homepage. (See id. at 78-82). After installation, the NIT obtained the IP address and other identifying information for the computer accessing Playpen, and transmitted that information to the FBI. (See id. ).

On February 20, 2015, the FBI applied for a warrant to deploy the NIT and investigate the users of Playpen from a magistrate judge in the Eastern District of Virginia. The 31-page warrant application described the place to be searched as the computer server "operating the Tor network child pornography website ... located at a government facility in the Eastern District of Virginia. The activating computers are those of any user or administrator who logs into [Playpen] by entering a username and password." (Dkt. 42 at 54). The warrant application identified information that FBI agents sought through use of the NIT, including any activating computer's IP address, a unique identifier generated by the NIT, and the type of operating system on the activating computer. (Id. at 55). The warrant application described Playpen as follows:

[Playpen] is dedicated to the advertisement and distribution of child pornography, the discussion of matters pertinent to child sexual abuse, including methods and tactics offenders use to abuse children, as well as methods and tactics offenders use to avoid law enforcement detection while perpetrating online child sexual exploitation crimes such as those described [elsewhere] in this affidavit.

(Id. at 65). According to the warrant application, the "primary purpose" of Playpen is "the advertisement and distribution of child pornography." (Id. at 68). The warrant application stated that "the entirety of [Playpen] is dedicated to child pornography" (id. at 75) and noted that the homepage contained "two images depicting partially clothed prepubescent females with their legs spread apart" (id. at 87). The warrant application also described the NIT, stating that, under the NIT, Playpen would augment the content it normally sends to users who visit the website with "additional computer instructions" that, once downloaded, would "cause the user's 'activating' computer to transmit certain information to a computer controlled by or known to the government." (Id. at 79). The NIT would operate on activating computers "wherever located." (Id. at 84). The magistrate judge in the Eastern District of Virginia issued the search warrant. (Id. at 52-53).

II. The Warrant for Defendant's Residence

In 2015, FBI agents identified an IP address that connected with Playpen. FBI agents confirmed that the IP address was Defendant's by contacting Time Warner Cable. Then, with Defendant's IP and residential addresses, FBI agents applied to Magistrate Judge Scott for a search warrant for Defendant's residence. (Id. at 8). Magistrate Judge Scott issued the search warrant on July 16, 2015. (Id. at 3; Dkt. 93 at 3 n.2 (explaining typographical error in date of warrant) ). On July 17, 2015, FBI agents searched Defendant's residence and arrested him. (Dkt. 1). The instant prosecution followed.

III. Proceedings Before Magistrate Judge Scott

This Court referred all pretrial matters in the case to Magistrate Judge Scott pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1)(A) and (B). Defendant filed pretrial motions before Magistrate Judge Scott, including motions to suppress evidence derived from the execution *375of the NIT warrant. (Dkt. 30 at 3; Dkt. 87; see also Dkt. 40; Dkt. 54; Dkt. 58; Dkt. 77; Dkt. 86).

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Bluebook (online)
310 F. Supp. 3d 371, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-sasiadek-nywd-2018.