United States v. DeFoggi

Defendant, the former acting director of cyber security at the United States Department of Health and Human Services, was convicted of multiple child pornography-related offenses following a jury trial. The court concluded that the district court did not err in denying defendant's motion to suppress evidence obtained through the interception of electronic communications where the application was properly authorized; the affidavit in support of the search warrant provided more than enough information to support a finding of probable cause to believe that evidence of criminal activity would be found at defendant's residence; the district court did not err in denying his motion to exclude evidence of his "fantasy chat messages" at trial where the court has previously held that personal chats on child pornography websites are admissible as circumstantial evidence; defendant failed to demonstrate that the chats were prejudicial; but defendant was improperly convicted of engaging in a child exploitation enterprise. Accordingly, the court vacated defendant's conviction on that count and remanded for resentencing. The court affirmed in all other respects. View "United States v. DeFoggi" on Justia Law