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ELIZABETH A. STRANGE

First Assistant United States Attorney District of Arizona

KEVIN M. RAPP (Ariz. Bar No. 14249, kevin.rapp@usdoj.gov)

DOMINIC LANZA (Cal. Bar No. 225989, dominic.lanza@usdoj.gov)

MARGARET PERLMETER (Ariz. Bar No. 024805, margaret.perlmeter@usdoj.gov)

Assistant U.S. Attorneys 40 N. Central Avenue, Suite 1800

Phoenix, Arizona 85004-4408

Telephone (602) 514-7500

JOHN P. CRONAN

Acting Assistant Attorney General

Criminal Division, U.S. Department of Justice

REGINALD E. JONES (Miss. Bar No. 102806, reginald.jones4@usdoj.gov)

Senior Trial Attorney, U.S. Department of Justice

Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section 

950 Pennsylvania Ave N.W., Room 2116

Washington, D.C. 20530

Telephone (202) 616-2807 

Attorneys for Plaintiff

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE DISTRICT OF ARIZONA

United States of America,

Plaintiff, 

v. 

1. Michael Lacey

2. James Larkin

3. Scott Spear

4. John “Jed” Brunst

5. Dan Hyer

6. Andrew Padilla

7. Joye Vaught 

Defendants.

CR-18-00422-PHX-SPL (BSB) 

UNITED STATES’ UNOPPOSED 

MOTION TO DESIGNATE CASE

COMPLEX, CONTINUE THE TRIAL 

DATE, AND SET A STATUS 

CONFERENCE AND PROPOSED 

ORDER

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INTRODUCTION

The United States respectfully moves this court, pursuant to local criminal rule 16.4, 

to designate this matter a “complex case" within the meaning of 18 U.S.C. 

§ 3161(h)(8)(B)(ii). The United States additionally moves the Court to continue the 

current trial date (June 5, 2018) and set a status conference within 21 days of the 

complex case designation to determine a schedule for motions, discovery, and other 

pre-trial case management issues. The defendants do not oppose this motion.

Excludable delay under 18 U.S.C. § 3161(h)(8)(B)(ii) will occur as a result of 

this motion or an order based thereon.

MEMORANDUM

On March 28, 2018, the United States obtained an indictment of Michael Lacey, 

James Larkin, Scott Spear, John “Jed” Brunst, Dan Hyer, Andrew Padilla, and Joye 

Vaught. Each defendant has made an initial appearance. The current motion deadline 

is April 26, 2018, and the current trial date is June 5, 2018. 

The 93-count indictment charges the defendants with conduct stretching over a 

more than decade-long period involving thousands upon thousands of ads posted on the 

website Backpage.com. The case also includes numerous financial transactions, some of 

which are cross-border and involve wire transfers, credit card processing, money orders, 

and cryptocurrency (bitcoin). The discovery will include voluminous items seized by 

the United States pursuant to numerous search warrants and other documents the 

United States obtained during its investigation. In addition, many witness have been 

interviewed and the interview reports are numerous. The case also may involve 

various expert designations.

As a result, the United States will be producing substantial documentary evidence 

involving hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of documents from the United States and 

abroad. The United States intends to begin producing these items to the defendants, on 

a rolling basis, likely through a computer program known as Relativity. The volume 

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of discovery in this case makes it unreasonable to expect adequate preparation for trial or 

pretrial proceedings within the time limits proscribed by the Speedy Trial Act (STA). 

For these reasons, and as other courts in this Circuit have regularly done in cases 

involving cross-border events and voluminous discovery, this Court should designate the 

case as complex for purposes of the STA and Local Criminal Rule 16.4, continue the 

current trial date, and set a status conference within 21 days of the complex case 

designation to determine a schedule for motions, discovery, and other pre-trial case 

management issues. See 18 U.S.C. § 3161(h)(8)(B)(ii) (court should consider whether the 

case is “so complex, due to the number of defendants, the nature of the prosecution, or the 

existence of novel questions of fact or law, that it is unreasonable to expect adequate 

preparation for pretrial proceedings or for the trial itself within the time limits established 

by” the STA); United States v. Butz, 982 F.2d 1378, 1381 (9th Cir. 1993) (approving “ends 

of justice” continuance where there were nine defendants, a 29-count indictment, 

voluminous discovery, and many witnesses). A case management schedule will allow the 

Court to establish a consolidated schedule for discovery and motions, which will maximize 

the efficiency and effectiveness of the process. 

For these reasons, the United States respectfully requests that the Court 

grant this unopposed motion to designate this a “complex case,” continue the trial 

date, and set a status conference within 21 days of the complex case designation to 

determine a schedule for motions, discovery, and other pre-trial case management 

issues. Counsel for all defendants have informed the United States that they do not oppose 

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this request for a complex-case designation.

Respectfully submitted this 13th day of April 2018.

ELIZABETH A. STRANGE

First Assistant United States Attorney

District of Arizona

JOHN P. CRONAN

Acting Assistant Attorney General

Criminal Division, U.S. Department of Justice

/s Kevin Rapp__________________________ KEVIN M. RAPP

DOMINIC LANZA

MARGARET PERLMETER

Assistant U.S. Attorneys

REGINALD E. JONES

Senior Trial Attorney U.S. Department of Justice, Criminal Division

Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section

Certificate of Service: I hereby certify that on this date, I electronically transmitted the 

attached document to the Clerk’s Office using the CM/ECF system for filing and 

transmittal of a Notice of Electronic Filing to the following CM/ECF registrants: Paul 

Cambria, James Grant, Robert Corn-Revere, Ronald London, Larry Debus, Lawrence 

Kazan, Gregory Zamora, Cristina Arguedas, Ted Cassman, Bruce Feder, Michael Kimerer, 

Michael Piccarreta, Stephen Weiss. I further certify that, on this date, I served a copy of 

this pleading (via email) on the following attorney who is not yet registered in the CM/ECF 

system: KC Maxwell.

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