1·1 . ,-

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 

SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF OHIO , 1 i SEP - 8 PM 4: 24 

-~ l ' , -

1!.17MJ-678 ) 

IN RE APPLICATION OF THE ) 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA FOR ) NO. 

---- - AN ORDER PURSUANT TO ) 

18 U.S.C. § 2703(d) ) Filed Under Seal 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~-) 

APPLICATION OF THE UNITED STATES 

FOR AN ORDER PURSUANT TO 18 U.S.C. § 2703(d) 

The United States of America, moving by and through its undersigned counsel, 

respectfully submits under seal this ex parte application for an Order pursuant to 18 U .S.C. 

§ 2703(d). The proposed Order would require Google, a business located in Mountain View, 

California, to disclose certain records and other information pertaining to the email account(s) 

RICHSNOBENT@GMAIL.COM, SHA WNCARTER60@GMAIL.COM, and 

BRANDONTHOMAS60@GMAIL.COM, as described in Part I of Attachment A. The records 

and other information to be disclosed are described in Part II of Attachment A to the proposed 

Order. In support of this application, the United States asserts: 

LEGAL BACKGROUND 

1. Google is a provider of an electronic communications service, as defined in 18 

U.S.C. § 2510(15), and/or a remote computing service, as defined in 18 U.S.C. § 2711(2). 

Accordingly, the United States may use a court order issued under § 2703( d) to require Google 

to disclose the items described in Part II of Attachment A. See 18 U.S.C. § 2703(c)(2) (Part II.A 

of Attachment A); 18 U.S.C. § 2703(c)(1) (Part II.B of Attachment A). 

2. This Court has jurisdiction to issue the proposed Order because it is "a court of 

competentjurisdiction," as defined in 18 U.S.C. § 2711. See 18 U.S.C. § 2703(d). Specifically, 

- i ~ i 

; .. 10 ~-'J I 

Case: 1:17-mj-00678-SKB Doc #: 1 Filed: 09/08/17 Page: 1 of 4 PAGEID #: 1
the Court is a district court of the United States that has jurisdiction over the offense being 

investigated. See 18 U.S.C. § 2711(3)(A)(i). 

3. A court order under§ 2703(d) "shall issue only if the governmental entity offers 

specific and articulable facts showing that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the 

contents of a wire or electronic communication, or the records or other information sought, are 

relevant and material to an ongoing criminal investigation." 18 U.S.C. § 2703(d). Accordingly, 

the next section of this application sets forth specific and articulable facts showing that there are 

reasonable grounds to believe that the records and other information described in Part II of 

Attachment A are relevant and material to an ongoing criminal investigation. 

THE RELEVANT FACTS 

4. The United States is investigating passport fraud. The investigation concerns 

possible violations of, inter alia, 18 U.S.C. § 1542. 

5. On February 24, 2015, a passport application was submitted in Milford, Ohio 

under the name Brandon Jordan Thomas. The applicant listed his email address as 

BRANDONTHOMAS60@GMAIL.COM. On September 14, 2016, a passport application was 

submitted in Mount Washington, Ohio under the name Fred Aundraus Gaston Ill. The applicant 

listed his email address as RICHSNOBENT@GMAIL.COM. The two passport applications 

appear to have been submitted by the same person. The photos associated with the two 

applications appear to depict the same person. The same date of birth is listed on both 

applications. The same address, 8312 Wooster Pike, Apartment 2, Cincinnati, is listed on both 

applications. The employer "RichSnobEnt" is listed on both applications. 

6. At the time the passport applications were submitted, the renter at 8312 Wooster 

Pike, Apartment 2, Cincinnati was Robin Roberson-Ligon. She has since moved; her current 

Case: 1:17-mj-00678-SKB Doc #: 1 Filed: 09/08/17 Page: 2 of 4 PAGEID #: 2
address is 2544 Spindlehill Drive, Apartment 5, Cincinnati. On August 29, 2017, two federal 

investigators went to this address. The man who answered the door appeared to be the man in 

the photographs for both passport applications under investigation. The man was also wearing a 

Rich Snob Entertainment t-shirt, the same company identified as the place of employment on 

both passport applications. The man told the investigators that his email address was 

SHA WNCARTER60@GMAIL.COM. 

REQUEST FOR ORDER 

7. The facts set forth in the previous section show that there are reasonable grounds 

to believe that the records and other information described in Part II of Attachment A are 

relevant and material to an ongoing criminal investigation. Specifically, these items will help the 

United States to identify and locate the individual(s) who are responsible for the events described 

above, and to determine the nature and scope of their activities. Accordingly, the United States 

requests that Google be directed to produce all items described in Part II of Attachment A to the 

proposed Order. 

8. The United States further requests that the Order require Google not to notify any 

person, including the subscribers or customers of the account(s) listed in Part I of Attachment A, 

of the existence of the Order until further order of the Court. See 18 U.S.C. § 2705(b). This 

Court has authority under 18 U.S.C. § 2705(b) to issue "an order commanding a provider of 

electronic communications service or remote computing service to whom a warrant, subpoena, or 

court order is directed, for such period as the court deems appropriate, not to notify any other 

person of the existence of the warrant, subpoena, or court order." Id. In this case, such an order 

would be appropriate because the requested Order relates to an ongoing criminal investigation 

that is neither public nor known to all of the targets of the investigation, and its disclosure may 

Case: 1:17-mj-00678-SKB Doc #: 1 Filed: 09/08/17 Page: 3 of 4 PAGEID #: 3
alert the targets to the ongoing investigation. Accordingly, there is reason to believe that 

notification of the existence of the requested Order will seriously jeopardize the investigation, 

including by giving targets an opportunity to flee or continue flight from prosecution, destroy or 

tamper with evidence, change patterns of behavior, or notify confederates. See 18 U.S.C. 

§ 2705(b)(2), (3), (5). Some of the evidence in this investigation is stored electronically. If 

alerted to the investigation, the subjects under investigation could destroy that evidence, 

including information saved to their personal computers 

9. The United States further requests that the Court order that this application and 

any resulting order be sealed until further order of the Court. As explained above, these 

documents discuss an ongoing criminal investigation that is neither public nor known to all of 

the targets of the investigation. Accordingly, there is good cause to seal these documents 

because their premature disclosure may seriously jeopardize that investigation. 

Respectfully submitted, 

BENJAMIN C. GLASSMAN 

UNITED STATES ATTORNEY 

Isl Timothy Landry 

Special Assistant U.S. Attorney 

State Bar # 669554 (Mass.) 

221 E. Fourth St., Suite 400 

Cincinnati, OH 45202 

Timothy.Landry@usdoj.gov 

513-684-3711 

Case: 1:17-mj-00678-SKB Doc #: 1 Filed: 09/08/17 Page: 4 of 4 PAGEID #: 4