Facebook Sextortion Essay

Sextortion is the latest cybercrime used against children—it a form of sexual exploration one uses guilt, power, or knowledge of certain secrets, to force another person into having sex or performing sexual favors. â€Å"Christopher Patrick Gunn was indicted Thursday by a federal grand jury in Montgomery with two counts of production of child pornography, three counts of interstate extortion, and three counts of using a facility of interstate commerce in furtherance of unlawful activity† (Shyyock, 2012). If convicted he could spend up to 100 years in the federal prison and $500,000 in fines with a lifetime supervised release. Christopher Patrick Gunn was using facebook (social networking site) to extort young girls. He would create phony profiles on facebook then he would send out facebook request to the young girls. Profiles that he used consisted of â€Å"The Justin Bieber Ruse† (when using Justin’s profile Gunn would promise the girls concert tickets), â€Å"The New Kid Ruse,† â€Å"Daniel Rodgers,† Dalton Walthers. â€Å"Tyler Mielke† and â€Å"Jason Lempke. † Once the young girls would accept his friend request they were able to use an internet-base interactive video chat service—like Skype. He would gain their trust so then he would proceed to ask personal questions (bra size, sexual status, etc) once he gathered enough information Gunn would request topless photos. If the girls refused he threatened to divulge the intimate conversations to the principle or place it on Facebook for the public to hear. In order for the prosecution to successfully prosecute Christopher Patrick Gunn the investigation that began in April 2011 after complaints were made from female students at Prattville Junior High School that they were receiving inappropriate picture solicitation request from a Facebook profile, police, crime scene investigators and criminalist have to provide strong evidence about the committed crime. As a result of the complaint filed pertaining to child victimization police rendered immediate action. Since the alleged crime was committed with computers and the Internet the detectives were able to use a computer command—traceroute that is provided with most operating systems. Traceroute is a utility that can detail the IP path (Internet Protocol–an address that is unique to a computer) packets that travel between two systems. It can also provide network affiliations, and their geographic locations. After executing this command the detectives were able to get an account and address leading to Gunn’s Montgomery home. The next step was to obtain a warrant to go to the home to retrieve any evidence pertaining to the crime. So the planning of the crime scene investigation was initiated after the warrant had been granted. Once at the crime scene the detectives knew that physical evidence must be obtained using the proper procedures and the correct techniques because how the crime scene is investigated can make or break the case. The crime scene was immediately secured—â€Å" controlling the movement of those at the crime scene also involves ensuring that no one touches, moves, or affects any potential evidence before the scene is thoroughly documented and processed. (Buckles, 2007) A report was started containing date, time of arrival, visibility, lighting and the weather. The computers were seized –documenting the computer activity, components, and other devices. Detectives determined the status of the computers by looking for signs indicating if they were on, off or in sleep status. With the status being determined it allowed for the contents of the screens to be annotated in the report along with photographs of the monitor screens. In the event that the computers were off, the report would state the status, photographs would be taking, sketches of all wires, cables, and other peripheral devices connected to the computer would be drawn. Labels would be placed on all power supplies, wires, cables, and other peripheral devices that indicate where they were occupied on the computer photographs would be taken once more. Most computers if the power is disconnected it will preserve vital information like who was last logged on, what time, last program used and last known computer commands used. The packaging of the computers would consist of taking the power supplies from the wall outlet and computers disconnecting all wires, cables, and peripheral devices securing them. Tape would be placed on the power buttons– the CD or DVD drives would be retracted this information would be annotated in the report if they are empty, were not checked, or contained disk. Then tape would be placed on the trays ensuring they remain closed. Included in the report would be the make, model, serial numbers, and any user-applied markings or identifiers. Preparations to package the computers would be in accordance with the agency procedures to prevent damage or alterations during transportation and storage a detailed log of the contents would accompany the package. However, if the detectives came upon a crime scene that revealed the suspected crime or parts of it (i. e. chat room activity, instant messaging windows, child pornography) on the computer screen the detectives would have halted the data evidence capture. A telephone call would have been made to request assistance from more experienced personnel in retrieving volatile data capture and preservation. The computer would have been left connected to the power supply due to the evidentiary value is in plain view. The detectives would have kept the scene secured awaiting expertise. But the search for other evidence would continue. Things such a passwords, software manuals, text or graphic materials printed from the computer would aid in the investigation and should be documented and retrieved with less handling in accordance with departmental guidelines. In addition to the computers a cell phone was recovered as digital evidence it too would have been documented, photographed, and received by experts to preserve its integrity. The power supply along with adapters were labeled, logged and would have been collected in accordance with procedural guidelines pending forensic examination. â€Å"One of the final steps in the crime scene investigation process, prior to releasing and exiting the crime scene, is to conduct a debriefing. † (Buckles, 2007) During this debrief it would give all parties involved a chance to verify completion and revisit if what was planned actually took place. It is also a time to gather all pertinent reports and other documentation gathered during the investigation—so that the lead investigator could compile all documents into a central case file. Lastly, to safeguard that all evidence that was collected a â€Å"final survey and post-investigative walk-through of the crime scene is needed before releasing and exiting the scene. † (Buckles, 2007) Once the scene has been exited the evidence would be taken and released to the computer forensic team so that they may obtain possession of the computer, all networking mappings from the system, and external physical storage devices. They will use tools and software suites to electronically identify what data could be recovered — bit – stream copies, log files, photos, cookie information, URL redirection, and E-mail headers. The forensic analyzer would generate a report including: name of investigator, list of router evidence, document of the evidence and other supporting items, tools used, list of devices and setups used in the examination, brief description of the examination steps, details on the findings—information about the files, internet-related evidences, data and image analysis and conclusion of the investigation. Hence the evidence that was collected by the Montgomery Police Department along with other investigators from the surrounding states corroborated and determined that Gunn had also committed crimes against young girls in their jurisdictions. The FBI was able to develop evidence that showed that Gunn was the person behind all the criminal conduct. In fact, the FBI has reason to believe that Gunn may have targeted hundreds of other girls in various states across the country, with some as young as 9 and 10 years old† (Weissman, 2012). In conclusion the electronic evidence that needed to be collected were the computers, cell phones, images and videos of child pornography, along with any other pertinent evidence like passwords, software manuals, text or graphic materials printed from the computer that could be used to solidify a conviction. Legal requirements for crime scene documents to be admissible as potential evidence in court must be obtained in a manner, which ensures true accuracy and validity. The constitutional rights of the perpetrator also present challenges. The prosecutors have to ensure that the experts who have examined the data do not breach client-attorney privileges and other privacy issues related to the digital evidence. The chain of custody is very important in ensuring a successful prosecution. Even though the evidence is strong other challenges need to be overcome like the presentation of the evidence discovered. Prosecutors do not typically know how to present electronic evidence to a jury. They need to understand the basics of electronic evidence so that they will not confuse the jury with computer jargon, or bore them with the expert’s testimony because it is delivered in an advanced technical manner. The prosecutors need to give the jury a basic foundation so that later they will understand the more technical issues. The prosecution should use a combination of oral testimony and demonstrative vidence so that the jury and the judge will understand later in the trial when expert witnesses are testifying. The prosecution has an obligation to present his/her case; the demonstrative evidence should be used to subconsciously condition the jury to believe your expert is knowledgeable and credible. The understanding will enable the jury to believe/not to believe the expert’s ultimate conclusions. If the prosecutor and the computer evidence collected were gathered in accordance with the departmental guidelines the prosecution will be successful.