Hi everyone,

Unforuntatly I am a soon to be member of the Federal Prison soceity and have found this site on my own by way of trying to deal with the huge issues in my life and the inexperience I have in trying to cope and understand the whole legal system. TO explain my entire circumstances as to why I am here will take more time then alot of you have, so I will try and keep my situation brief.

The story so far:
I am a loving husband and father of 2 wonderful children (6 yr old son and 4 yr old daughter)
Sometime in August of 2005 an AOL user in a town close to my own was being investigated for using AOL for purposes of trading CP. They got a search warrant to review his accounts and found over 40-50 emails both in inbox and sent box of material dealing with CP. The federal investigators went through all of his emails and basically tracked down everyone that he sent things to and investigated them as well. On June 39th of this year I got "the knock" on my door by the FEDS and they searched my home and took away my computer to "analyze" it and said they will get back to me. Let me just say that that experience is one that I NEVER wish upon anyone to happen. Since I was a highly public and respected investment advisor for my community, they felt the need to also go to my work and ask for my computers there. The next day I was "suspended" and fired within 2 weeks from my job and career. My search also made a hefty column on the front page of my newspaper. Because it was in the paper my wife and I have been shunned from the community and she was required to hire an aide to be a witness with her at work that she does not touch children. (she teaches speech theropy at a local school).. I found the task of hiring a lawyer in these parts (nw ohio) that had any experience in federal matters let alone CP was a daunting task. I found one with federal experience but not really about CP. I tried to get a job in my field again but the employers always seemed to find out what was going on with me, EVEN THOUGH I NEVER HAVE BEEN CHARGED YET. I am now left from having a 138k a year investment job with over 450 clients to loading boxes on a truck at a factory 3rd shift for 11.00 an hour. I am also in the process of selling our home that I and my wife built a few years ago because we can no longer afford to keep it.

I have been through a heck of alot of emotions from wanting to kill myself to save my family the torture of the lable that is being placed on me, saddess and fear of the unknown, and anger of how all of this came about and how ridiculous their low "burden of proof" they need to ruin someones life. I recently got a copy of the affidvide of search warrant for my house and found that their whole reason for coming to me was because the other guys email account showed a sent email to my email account of 4 pictures three of which were legal adult porn and the last one was what they deemed to be a posing naked pic of an underage female. They stipulated no way of showing that I had requsted such a picture, or that I received the picture, by know action of my own and the simple actions of another person, my life gets turned upside down. I for one have never collected child pornograghy but I was an avid adult porn collector and surfer. My fear now is that who is to say what is or is not on my computer that I was unaware that was there. Anyone who has desire to look at legal adult pornograghy knows that by viewing it opens a flood gates of material that is sometimes on topic and sometimes off topic to what they are looking for, it should be left up to the person to determine what is proper and not proper There should be a definate line between people whos tastes in legal pornograghy which draws risks of letting things that are not proper into the home but takes steps to ensure it is not possessed or kept versus those who violate the law and store files of CP on their computer and disks and other media.

I have done a substantial amount of research on the whole child porn laws and it is absoutely scary to see how one sided this issue is. 1st why can't I fight the fact that they should have more proof to have a search warrant to ruin my life then just the simple act of someone that I could not control who sends me anything? 2nd,,,people assume that a person labled with possession of CP automatically is looking at pictures of 4 yr olds having sex with adults etc...when the law actually is worded to where you could have a clothed picture of a 16yr old female and have it be considered CP... The further upsetting fact is that when i talk to my friends about all of it, they are not even outraged about how the govt can roll over someone like this,,,their whold phylosiphy is that if you were not looking at adult porn so much then you would not have put yourself at risk for other things.

I continue to tell my lawyer that this is a witchhunt and our job is to get as much leverage as we can BEFORE I get charged in order to fight these charges, but for some reason he is taking a passive approach to all of this and continues to say he does not forsee me in prison. I have told him time and time again that it looks like the Federal Prosecutors get 100% convictions and or plea deals with stuff like this and that is why they love these cases, but my lawyer says "You never hear about dismissed cases or probation cases because nobody pleas or fights them, therefore they do not make the news, but they do happen alot"....I just want to know out there a few things..



1A) Does anyone have any stories like this with GOOD outcomes????

1B) If anyone has or knows someone who is going through all of this, how long between the time they come to my home to the time that they actually decide to charge me? I was told around 6 months and feel like a person waiting for his execution date to arrive.

2.) The guy that alledgedly sent me something was charged 2 months ago and pled guilty with a sentencing guidelines of 48-56 months all within 2 weeks (he took a plea deal). Do I fight this thing to the hilt or do I also look at the reality that I am screwed and take a plea deal? If I go to trial, i feel I would be convicted on my moralitites of being into adult porn rather then the legalness of child porn... I keep feeling that my win here is more about the lack of burden of proof the feds had to come to me in the first place and to challenge their warrants and overreaching of authority in suspecting me of something.

3.) I further have seen that in order to be convicted of possession of child porn, the person has to actually be proven that what he or she was viewing was illegal. (many plea bargins or interviews with the investigators make it a point to show the felon KNEW what he was doing was wrong). Ignorance to the law is not a proper defense, BUT if what you have ever seen or viewed was proven by you that you beleived if falled with being legal, how can you be convicted?? I used the following examples...



-----A person is online and talks to a 14yr old girl and wants to meet her for sex. When he gets there the person is a 36yr old undercover cop. He gets CONVICTED because he beleived he was going to have sex with a 14yr old girl. Should he have been convicted? YES because he went ther to committ a crime and knew it.

------A person is online and goes to sites that are dedicated to child porn and are obvious sexual intercourse with obvious minors and that person collects and stores them on his computer and disks....Upon a search he is found with over 13,000 pictures of hardcore CP and pleds to 1 count of possession of CP and gets 5-6 years for it. Should he have been convicted? YES because he knew what he was doing was illegal


BUT WHAT ABOUT THIS?

------ A person gets online and talks to a 36 year old female with the intent to meet her for sex, he goes to meet her and it turns out to be a 14yr old girl and he gets arrested for trying to have sex with a minor. Should he be convicted if it was proven that he thought he was there to have sex with a 36yr old woman?

-----A person is online trading adult porn and gets a random email that directs him to a site featuring underage females posing in the nude. The person is a law abiding citizen but curious, the legal disclaimer shows that the site says that under the US statute the pictures are "ARTISTIC" and not in violation of any child porn laws, it even directs the person to the legal US statute site of what CHILD PORN is and clearly shows that the site has taken all responsibilities to be within the law. THe person views the material but while legal, does not want the material on his computer so he deletes and erases it. They search his computer and recover 15 pictures of nude posing underage females. He is charged with 1 count of possession of child pornography. Should he be convicted and sent to prison? FURTHERMORE NOTICE THAT THE EXAMPLE OF THE GUY PURPOSLY HAVING OVER 13,000 FILES of CP and the example of the guy having 15 PICTURES THAT WERE NOT EVEN IN FILES AND BELEIVED TO BE LEGAL GOT THE SAME 1 COUNT POSSESSION CHARGE!!!


I know this is not a forum for legal issues, but all of this is the stage that I am in now...ANy helpful insight would be GREATLY APPRECIATED>!!!





We are all clear on these issues

Let me preface everything by saying that I am not an expert on anything and I know nothing about cases of this nature. It isn't anything i've ever had to deal with nor anyone I know.

With that said...

I do recall a fairly substantial sentencing departure granted in a Federal child porn case where, if I recall correctly, the porn was automatically "downloaded" on the users computer as opposed to him actively seeking material of that nature. I'll see if I can't dig it up.

I do agree wholeheartedly that the technology has advanced far, far faster than the laws that regulate it and its content. I think there is a pretty much universal agreement amongst non-perverts that people who keep or trade in child porn should be prosecuted and jailed; however, if a fragment of such material occurs on someones computer coincidental to their seeking lawful adult subject matter, that's an entirely different ball of wax.

It all boils down to how they define "download", which pretty much covers any webpage you view. If you open up a thumbnail gallery looking for "hot sex" and one of the 500 images happens to be of an underaged girl, you have a pretty compelling case in your favor as opposed to the guy who is actively on P2P filesharing networks looking for the stuff.

Nevertheless, the damage has already been done. We live in a society where rational people are the exception rather than the rule, and rally-cries mean more than thinking things through.
By all means- prosecute the living hell out anyone who is actively trading, making or seeking out that garbage, but if it just "pops up" during an otherwise ordinary search for legal adult material, there should be clear exceptions made. Sadly, the technology moves 100X faster than teh laws, as you're about to find out.

As far as the guy getting online talking with a 36 year old female, he goes to meet her and she's really a 14 year old girl, in my opinion, he *should* be prosecuted if the 36 year old female was acting in an undercover capacity as a 14 year old in order to elicit preadatory individuals.
However, if he thinks he is talking to a 36 year old woman, goes to her house and she's really a 14 year old girl, there probably wouldn't be anything to prosecute him for, presuming he just left when he realized that she wasn't 36.

I know your world has been turned upside down and I can relate to the drastic drop in income you have experienced. I have often wondered about all those unsolicited emails and does what they contain stick around on your computer. Surely they have to prove intent on your part but knowing the federal system is about convictions and not justice I can imagine your concern.

I don't know anything about these types of things and sorry if I'm wasting your time. I just wanted to state my opinion on how I read your post. It seems hard to believe that you would have to go through all of this from simply receiving an email and curiously opening it up. This is what you stated was opened up from the sent email which they were able to obtain the search warrant based from: "4 pictures three of which were legal adult porn and the last one was what they deemed to be a posing naked pic of an underage female." For someone to have to go through what you and your family has already gone through for that just seems crazy to me. As I stated, I don't know anything about this type of stuff, but I would think there would have to be more to it than that or I'd think you'd prolly have a good lawsuit on your hands. Again I could be wrong and it's just my opinion. Now you stated that's how they obtained the search warrant, but now who's to say what's on the computer that you don't know about. That's a fair statement to me, but if you weren't/haven't done anything wrong I don't see why you should feel scared to the extreme you seem to be in, although what your going through seems very scary. Please don't be offeneded, as I'm not trying to offend you, nor am I saying I think you've done anything wrong. I'm in no place to make a judgement by what you've stated. This is just how the post came accross to me. Did they first receive a warrant for your computer at home and after searching it, then get a search warrant for your computers at work? If so, I would think they would have had to have found something else on your home computer. None-the-less, for them to have done this much damage to you and your families lives, I would think they would have had to definately had more to go on then you opening an email.

About one of the examples you posted at the end of your post. I also would think they shouldn't be able to harm someone for innocently opening up pictures (15) and then deleting them. Especially since your stating they all are/were LEGAL ones. It doesn't seem right to me to be penalized for something like that, then again I don't agree with every law either. It sounds like your lawyer doesn't think your going to prison, so what does he think is likely to happen? What does he say you've done wrong? What do you believe you've done wrong? Is there more to this then mentioned? Sounds like there must be. Don't mean to be personal, but you did post the thread. You asked some very personal and serious questions. Specially the one about how you should plea etc. I think you need your attorney for questions like that. Sounds like you need to talk more with him. He may not have all the answers and although you are truly his boss on what to do and how to plead, he should let you know what he thinks is best and why. You said it was a task to find a fed lawyer, I hope you found a good one, because differences in lawyers can make a world of difference. You also stated, "Unforuntatly I am a soon to be member of the Federal Prison soceity". That sounds to me like your sure you've done wrong and quite sure you will do some time. Am I wrong? Otherwise, don't give up. Hell even if you have done someting wrong, it sounds like you shuold be able to afford a decent attorney, and not everyone goes to prison. As for the suicide thoughts, you need to be stronger than that, specially knowing you have a family who will suffer more without you than with you. Hang in there, God has a reason for everythnig. I wish you and your family the best. Good luck.

Hi everyone,

Unforuntatly I am a soon to be member of the Federal Prison soceity and have found this site on my own by way of trying to deal with the huge issues in my life and the inexperience I have in trying to cope and understand the whole legal system. TO explain my entire circumstances as to why I am here will take more time then alot of you have, so I will try and keep my situation brief.

The story so far:
I am a loving husband and father of 2 wonderful children (6 yr old son and 4 yr old daughter)
Sometime in August of 2005 an AOL user in a town close to my own was being investigated for using AOL for purposes of trading CP. They got a search warrant to review his accounts and found over 40-50 emails both in inbox and sent box of material dealing with CP. The federal investigators went through all of his emails and basically tracked down everyone that he sent things to and investigated them as well. On June 39th of this year I got "the knock" on my door by the FEDS and they searched my home and took away my computer to "analyze" it and said they will get back to me. Let me just say that that experience is one that I NEVER wish upon anyone to happen. Since I was a highly public and respected investment advisor for my community, they felt the need to also go to my work and ask for my computers there. The next day I was "suspended" and fired within 2 weeks from my job and career. My search also made a hefty column on the front page of my newspaper. Because it was in the paper my wife and I have been shunned from the community and she was required to hire an aide to be a witness with her at work that she does not touch children. (she teaches speech theropy at a local school).. I found the task of hiring a lawyer in these parts (nw ohio) that had any experience in federal matters let alone CP was a daunting task. I found one with federal experience but not really about CP. I tried to get a job in my field again but the employers always seemed to find out what was going on with me, EVEN THOUGH I NEVER HAVE BEEN CHARGED YET. I am now left from having a 138k a year investment job with over 450 clients to loading boxes on a truck at a factory 3rd shift for 11.00 an hour. I am also in the process of selling our home that I and my wife built a few years ago because we can no longer afford to keep it.

I have been through a heck of alot of emotions from wanting to kill myself to save my family the torture of the lable that is being placed on me, saddess and fear of the unknown, and anger of how all of this came about and how ridiculous their low "burden of proof" they need to ruin someones life. I recently got a copy of the affidvide of search warrant for my house and found that their whole reason for coming to me was because the other guys email account showed a sent email to my email account of 4 pictures three of which were legal adult porn and the last one was what they deemed to be a posing naked pic of an underage female. They stipulated no way of showing that I had requsted such a picture, or that I received the picture, by know action of my own and the simple actions of another person, my life gets turned upside down. I for one have never collected child pornograghy but I was an avid adult porn collector and surfer. My fear now is that who is to say what is or is not on my computer that I was unaware that was there. Anyone who has desire to look at legal adult pornograghy knows that by viewing it opens a flood gates of material that is sometimes on topic and sometimes off topic to what they are looking for, it should be left up to the person to determine what is proper and not proper There should be a definate line between people whos tastes in legal pornograghy which draws risks of letting things that are not proper into the home but takes steps to ensure it is not possessed or kept versus those who violate the law and store files of CP on their computer and disks and other media.

I have done a substantial amount of research on the whole child porn laws and it is absoutely scary to see how one sided this issue is. 1st why can't I fight the fact that they should have more proof to have a search warrant to ruin my life then just the simple act of someone that I could not control who sends me anything? 2nd,,,people assume that a person labled with possession of CP automatically is looking at pictures of 4 yr olds having sex with adults etc...when the law actually is worded to where you could have a clothed picture of a 16yr old female and have it be considered CP... The further upsetting fact is that when i talk to my friends about all of it, they are not even outraged about how the govt can roll over someone like this,,,their whold phylosiphy is that if you were not looking at adult porn so much then you would not have put yourself at risk for other things.

I continue to tell my lawyer that this is a witchhunt and our job is to get as much leverage as we can BEFORE I get charged in order to fight these charges, but for some reason he is taking a passive approach to all of this and continues to say he does not forsee me in prison. I have told him time and time again that it looks like the Federal Prosecutors get 100% convictions and or plea deals with stuff like this and that is why they love these cases, but my lawyer says "You never hear about dismissed cases or probation cases because nobody pleas or fights them, therefore they do not make the news, but they do happen alot"....I just want to know out there a few things..



1A) Does anyone have any stories like this with GOOD outcomes????

1B) If anyone has or knows someone who is going through all of this, how long between the time they come to my home to the time that they actually decide to charge me? I was told around 6 months and feel like a person waiting for his execution date to arrive.

2.) The guy that alledgedly sent me something was charged 2 months ago and pled guilty with a sentencing guidelines of 48-56 months all within 2 weeks (he took a plea deal). Do I fight this thing to the hilt or do I also look at the reality that I am screwed and take a plea deal? If I go to trial, i feel I would be convicted on my moralitites of being into adult porn rather then the legalness of child porn... I keep feeling that my win here is more about the lack of burden of proof the feds had to come to me in the first place and to challenge their warrants and overreaching of authority in suspecting me of something.

3.) I further have seen that in order to be convicted of possession of child porn, the person has to actually be proven that what he or she was viewing was illegal. (many plea bargins or interviews with the investigators make it a point to show the felon KNEW what he was doing was wrong). Ignorance to the law is not a proper defense, BUT if what you have ever seen or viewed was proven by you that you beleived if falled with being legal, how can you be convicted?? I used the following examples...



-----A person is online and talks to a 14yr old girl and wants to meet her for sex. When he gets there the person is a 36yr old undercover cop. He gets CONVICTED because he beleived he was going to have sex with a 14yr old girl. Should he have been convicted? YES because he went ther to committ a crime and knew it.

------A person is online and goes to sites that are dedicated to child porn and are obvious sexual intercourse with obvious minors and that person collects and stores them on his computer and disks....Upon a search he is found with over 13,000 pictures of hardcore CP and pleds to 1 count of possession of CP and gets 5-6 years for it. Should he have been convicted? YES because he knew what he was doing was illegal


BUT WHAT ABOUT THIS?

------ A person gets online and talks to a 36 year old female with the intent to meet her for sex, he goes to meet her and it turns out to be a 14yr old girl and he gets arrested for trying to have sex with a minor. Should he be convicted if it was proven that he thought he was there to have sex with a 36yr old woman?

-----A person is online trading adult porn and gets a random email that directs him to a site featuring underage females posing in the nude. The person is a law abiding citizen but curious, the legal disclaimer shows that the site says that under the US statute the pictures are "ARTISTIC" and not in violation of any child porn laws, it even directs the person to the legal US statute site of what CHILD PORN is and clearly shows that the site has taken all responsibilities to be within the law. THe person views the material but while legal, does not want the material on his computer so he deletes and erases it. They search his computer and recover 15 pictures of nude posing underage females. He is charged with 1 count of possession of child pornography. Should he be convicted and sent to prison? FURTHERMORE NOTICE THAT THE EXAMPLE OF THE GUY PURPOSLY HAVING OVER 13,000 FILES of CP and the example of the guy having 15 PICTURES THAT WERE NOT EVEN IN FILES AND BELEIVED TO BE LEGAL GOT THE SAME 1 COUNT POSSESSION CHARGE!!!


I know this is not a forum for legal issues, but all of this is the stage that I am in now...ANy helpful insight would be GREATLY APPRECIATED>!!!





We are all clear on these issues
You are not alone. I was all for the laws and an avid champion until I saw innocent people dragged in with the REAL molestors, treated the same and having their names besmirched. You are not the only one. God bless and hopefully your sentence will be very light, as you do not have a "victim" and that's what counts on the sentencing.

Masterbains7, I'd like to appoligize for me first responce. I'm new to the site and after coming back and reading my post I don't think I should have replied like that. I don't think I needed to be asking you what you think you did wrong or giving my opinion etc. Though I meant no harm or offense torwards you, it isn't my place to have asked those questions. You weren't asking for that and this site is for support, not questioning. I honestly meant nothing bad at all and hope you weren't offended. It simply sounds wrong to have to go through what you and the family are going through for opening up an email, however it isn't my business to have asked if there was anything further. As I stated, I wish you and your family the best and hope things get better for you guys. Stay strong and know your family needs you... At home or away, if you need to go. If you go away, you will return and your life/lives will go on for the better. I feel for you on having to go through the drastic changes in the life style; selling your home etc. I too have had a major change in income and had to sell some property, moved etc. It's hard, but things will get better. Sorry I'm no further help to you.

The case in question is U.S. v. Parish, 308 F.3d 1025, where the court granted an eight level downward departure due to the fact that the porn was automatically downloaded and was outside the "heartland" of cases that the law sought to prosecute.

According to my research, US v. Parrish was litigated in 2002.
There is something called the "Feeny Amendment" which was passed in 2003. that forbids downward sentencing departures for certain child pornography cases which was passed in 2003. I do not know if the Feeny Amendment would have applied to US v. Parrish, nor if it might apply to your particular case, however, if your version of the tale is even close to being accurate, it seems that US v. Parrish would stand as a precedent for a downward departure, presuming it isn't negated by the Feeny Amendment.

Tell your attorney i'll be sending him a bill.

Thanks to all that have responded. While I cannot talk totally about my case as it is still in the investigation stage, I did want to resond to one comment that was made about if I did nothing wrong I should not worry or that I am too worried for someone who sas he did nothing wrong. The truth of the matter is that when this all happened, while humiliated, i beleived everything wold be ok for I knew that I have never collected CP by any mreans, the worry and distress has come over the last few months in that I have no idea what a witch hunt this sort of thing is ( I was even told by a member here that the conviction rate for this sort of thing is 96%) We as americans live in a world of our own sheltered lives beleiving that people who are accused of CP and go down for it are the heinous people who go around trafficing it and spending contless hours looking for it I have to admit that myself I had no idea how much the governement cannot even simply define what is or is not considered child porn, but yet while they cannot seem to really define it they certainly have no problem making the punishment absoulte. The sad thing is that I know somewhere in the governements perverse mind of justice they are able to sleep at night by saying that they are protecting children, which society willlove them for it. But I have two wonderful young children of my own that has been and will be effected by this and they are my immediate protection. To continue to allow the governement to blindly punish people and lump those who do not collect or have an interest in CP to those that willfully break the law together under the same catagory is draconion to say the least. A stiff sentence structure will not deter people who in fact do not beleive they are in anyway breaking a law! The sentencing guidlines speak volumes of truth to this!! Did you know that according to those guidelines a person who has 1 image of alledged CP that he or she deleted can actually go to rpison longer then a person who has over 13,000 images and willfully collects it? What good is a system if the justice process alone is responsible for making criminals out of good citizens?

Imagine this story!!!!


Imagine a world where you are a loving father or mother living the upper middle class life with a Masters Degree and many years of work experience who lives life reading to your kids and tucking them in at night and one day you get unattentionally linked to some child pornogragher, the mere investigation has you losing your job, your career, and your house. After a thourough (and long) investigation it is found that you had 3 or 4 images of alledged CP that while deleted were still retrivable under the governements crack shot forensic use. You get charged with possession of CP and it is all over the paper and public records,,you can't even leave your house without fear of you or your family being hurt. You meet with the prosecutor who tells you that you have a choice of 10 years in prison and a messey trial that you will lose or accept a plea deal of 3-5 years but you have to admit to doing stuff you did not do. With a 96% conviction rate you are stuck with the idea of seeing your kids at 16 and 17 or seeing them at 9 and 7 so u accept the guilty plea bargin. With the couple of pictures recovered the PSI starts at a base level 17 and gives you based on those couple of pictures is able to enhance your sentence 10 levels which gives you the high end of 5 years. You get no ability to have anything taken off (downward departure) based on the excellent life you have lived or that you are not a threat to society. Remember also that there is NO PAROLE in the federal system! The fun does not end there however, once you leave your family and go to prison, you do not get the chance to go to a federal prison CAMP because of the public safety factor and you spend the next 5 yeras hearing stories of what your children have been doing while you miss everything about them growing up, you get to hear the crys of your son who misses you tucking him in at night. You also are in fear for your life because while prison is bad enough, you as a convicted child pornogragher are actually the low end of the society scale in prison. You get to live with the choice of either sleeeping with 1 eye open in the general population or be sent to protective custody where you will live in the very solitary environment that is used as a way to punish most prosiners who cause trouble. At the end of your visit to prison you normally would be allowed up to 6 months in a half way house to try and help transition your life back into mainstream society,, but alas since you are a sex offender you have that nasty public safety issue to where you do not even qualify for the half way house so you spend your entire sentence in prison. All this time your wife or husband has come to the conclution that life without you (While hard at first) has become very manageable to the point that he or she realizes that while they still love you, the cannot stand to live with the guilt by association factor and also ahve to abide by all the restrictions that come with living with a sex offender so he or she decides to sperate from you. Once out of prison you are now 5 yeras out of mainstream society with no money or place to live, you are forced to move in with your parents while looking for work. ALl of the work you try to find has a no hire policy when it comes to felons and the most you can find is a job that pays 18k a year. You have to register as a sex offender for the rest of your life and never be aloud to work with the youth for as long as you live. Every place you go to live your picture and what you were accused of will be plastered all over the area. Under supervised release you are requried to pay any fines and legal fees as well as theropy that is all paid out of your 18k a year wage. You wake up one day and realize that your life has become and will always be that of a 40ish year old convicted sex offender felon with a dead end job barely enough to put gas in your car with no spouse or family to love you and hold you at night and so you put a gun to put a gun to your head and shhot yourself in order to end the pain...Your funeral is a very small and inexpensive one and nobody shows up except your immediate family because nobody is going to mourn the loss of a convicted sex offender.

All of this misery was because you were accused of having 3 or 4 pictures (deleted on your computer or that you were led to beleive were legal under the law.

While this is a story based on noone that I know, it is one that keeps me up every night because I beleive that this is truely what happens to people in this reality and what lies ahead for me. I know people are going to say that your life will be what you make of it and if you do not want it to be like that then you need to make things happen, well I got news for you folks that in this day and age it is no different then a salem witchhunt. Like the days of Salem, women were burned at the stake for being accused of something that the public just did not understand so the safest thing for them to do was to round all the women up and kill them all. It took a long time before someone finally woke up and said "Gee I think this broad labeling of all of these poor women just might be a bit harsh" Yes they finally woke up and all was right with the world, but it did not change the lives of the poor women that were sacraficed at the stake for doing nothing more then being at the wrong place at the wrong time. I beleive that eventually people and or the governement will come around and take all of the data that they have collected over the years and realize that gee maybe this broad labeling of everyone as a childpornogragher is doing more harm then good and might be a bit harsh" Unfortunately, right now anyone and everyone caught up in this whole mess is only worth being a statistic and data for future analysis.

Sorry to make all this seem like a federal case, but it is a federal case LOL

I was a computer crime investigator for years at a fortune 5 company. I had worked with the feds in the past, but never saw what happned to people once I turned over my findings to them. After refusing to help the feds on a case I objected to, I was, in turn, then subjected to the power of the governmnet.

This is something the average citizen never sees until they are subjected to it. The US Government only has to suspect you of maybe doing something, and it effectively ruins your life from then on out.

I, like you, lost two 6-figure jobs before I was even charged. The feds were kind enough to talk to my employeers, and even though there was no proof against me and I was still considered innocent, I was treated like a terrorist.

This is the part that never is looked at when sentencing someone. So the feds are going to give you 1 year of probation for j-walking. The average person will say, "dang you got off easy!" Sure, you lost your job, house, family, reputation, career aspects, stuck with a record for the rest of your life - ya sure they went easy on me.

I know what you are going through, and it SUCKS. As far as I cared, it was the worst part. Sitting in club fed for 90 days was easy.

As far as your case goes, being a former computer crime investigator, they will take out the drives from your computer and use a program called EnCase to do forensics on it. They can find EVERYTHING on it. Things that were deleted may be found, depending on how long ago they were deleted and how active your computer was.

For a CP case, they are limited to the scope of that they can look for on your drive. They are going to look for CP, or CP related information. If you have the plans for a bomb on your computer, they won't find it since they aren't looking for it. They are single focused. They basically will pull up every single image on your computer and run a program against them. This program has check sums of known CP images, and trys to match them against the images on your drive. If none match, someone will sit there in a little room and basically look at all the pictures, movies and porn on your drive. If they think they see something that is questionable, they will call in their local expert to look at it and make a dertermination. If it's obviously CP, they will move forward, tell the US Attorney and charge you. If it's questionable, they will see how many there are, and the US Attorney will make a decision based off how many there are. If you have one "maybe", then I doubt they would move forward. If you have a lot of "maybes", then they might move forward, but at least then you can challenge the "maybes" (show a leigt porn site they came from as an example). If there is nothing, then there is nothing.

In any event, if they charge you, it takes about 6 months until you know. If they don't, you'll never know. The entire thing just vanishes. You'll have to get your lawyer to file a moation with the court to get your computers back, but don't plan on them being in working order. All mine were broken beyond repair.

Your lawyer isn't doing anything because until the US Attorney charges you, he has nothing to really say. If the US Attorney says "Here are 2 images of CP", then you and your attorney can go over it and see how/if you can challenge it, or if you're going to plea. To go to the US Attorney before you are charged and say anything, all he is doing is giving the US Attorney clues as to where to look, or more information he may not know.

If they find stuff, I'm sorry, but you'll have to plea. If you try and go to trial, they will ROYALLY screw you becuase of the fact you did try and fight it.

It sucks. I know. If you know you didn't have any CP, then all you can really do is try your bext to peice your life back together. They will never come back and say they are sorry, or do anything to help get your job back. It's up to you to get back to where you were.

It's taken me 3 years, but I am back - so it is possible. Don't give up, and no matter what happens or how outrages or unfair it sounds, don't let them beat you.

From the infrmation you folks provided here it would appear the Feds deploy the same tactics in ALL their cases.

What a disillusionment.

Keep the Faith

Michael :thumbsup:

I DO wish you the best.
The thought of innocent victims being persued when pig bastards are out there filling themselves with CP is a crime in itself.
I know, my Husband (now thankfully deceased from an accident) abused my twin girls. Only found out a years after he died. He was the Director of Trade Finance for one of the few triple A International banks. Who'd figure he would be capable of it? I sure didn't. To hear a heartfelt Man like yourself come up against something like this the outcome MUST be good.
Hang in there, God bless!

He was 20, now he's 23 and spending 30 months in Coleman Low Federal prison in Florida. He'll be out in Jan. 2014. He'll have 15 years probation and a lifetime on the sex offender registry.
I spent over $120,000 in attorney fees and forensics, etc. Our forensics proved that out of the 2335 music videos (he's a musician) 2 were cp that he saw but deleted right away and there was 1 he never saw.
The Prosecutor said they would up charges to distribution, which might be up to 25 years, so he plead guilty. He had no choice.
11 ICE agents stormed his home and woke him up to a gun to his head, fully geared and ransacked his home. Found nothing but those 3 cp.. they knew he was innocent but after spending all that money and the Prosecutor said that forensics are nice but they have to show that they're tough on this crime. The judge said he'd be out soon enough and he'd be fine.

Oh, thea, that makes me heartsick. Perfect example of the INjustice system in this country.

Keeping you in my thoughts.
xox

As awful as what happened to him is, he avoided the 5 or 10 year mandatory minimum sentence the AUSA threatened him with (government bribery), and the even worse lifetime supervised release. 15 years is bad enough (before the AWA it was 3 years) but I think I would rather jump off of the Space Needle than have to face life on probation.

You might want to consider moving from Florida too. There are some states that do not publish Tier 1's, which usually includes folks with his charges (LE access only), have no residence restrictions, and re-registration is required only after a change of address. Believe me that is way easier to deal with than all the crap Florida and some of the other nastier states put people through. If he has a valid reason to be move to a different judicial district (housing, family support, job possibilities, etc. better there than in FL), he can apply for a change of release location with his case manager 6 to 8 months before he expects to go to a half way house. If it is approved by both PO offices, he will go to the HWH there, and be released there at the end of his sentence. It worked for me.

I would contact your local federal defender office. If you do not have the financial resources to hire an attorney, the court should appoint you a federal public defender.

If your resources put you over the line for a federal public defender (who are experienced in these types of case), you should still contact your local office for a list of Criminal Justice Panel Act attorneys. These attorneys must meet specific requirements to be listed on the panel (no guarantee of quality though). The requirements mainly have to do with them having observed a certain number of hours of all the phases in the federal criminal process.

I would also do research re: CP sentencing guidelines and challenges on the national federal defender website. Under training/education materials tab, go to the tab labled "sentencing issues." This tab should take you to a page that has offense-specific sentencing information that will help you understand how the advisory sentencing guidelines apply to your case.

Best of luck!