Opinion ID: 3153542
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: facts

Text: In June 2013, Homeland Security Investigations (“HSI”) Agent Rick Moore learned that child pornography was being distributed over the internet from an IP address registered to Krueger, a Kansas resident. Agent Moore thereafter obtained a warrant from a United States magistrate judge in the District of Kansas (“Warrant 1”) to search Krueger’s Kansas residence for items such as computers and cell phones that may be used to depict child pornography visually. Upon executing Warrant 1 at 6:40 a.m. on June 13, however, Agent Moore discovered that Krueger was not home and that his computer and cell phone were not in the residence. Krueger’s roommate, who was present when Agent Moore executed the warrant, indicated that Krueger was in Oklahoma City visiting a friend, Nate Benner, and that Krueger may have taken his computer and cell phone with him to Oklahoma. 2 Based on this information, Agent Moore asked Oklahoma-based HSI Agent Jeff Perkins to verify Krueger’s whereabouts. That same day, June 13, Agent Perkins identified Krueger’s automobile parked outside of Benner’s Oklahoma residence. Agent Moore then sought and obtained a second warrant from a different United States magistrate judge in the District of Kansas (“Warrant 2”). This warrant—which was issued just hours after Agent Moore had executed Warrant 1—authorized law enforcement to search both Benner’s Oklahoma residence and Krueger’s automobile parked outside of Benner’s residence for electronic devices belonging to Krueger or in his possession. Agent Moore transmitted Warrant 2 to Agent Perkins in Oklahoma immediately after it was issued by the United States magistrate judge in Kansas. Upon receiving Warrant 2, Agent Perkins and a team of other agents went to Benner’s Oklahoma residence. Krueger was present when the agents executed Warrant 2 at 12:30 p.m. on June 13, seizing (among other things) Krueger’s computer and external hard drive. Shortly after entering Benner’s residence, however, one of the agents noticed that Warrant 2 had been issued by a federal magistrate judge in the District of Kansas—rather than a federal magistrate judge in the Western District of Oklahoma, the district within which Benner’s residence is located—and asked Agent Perkins if that was acceptable. Agent Perkins promptly called Agent Moore in Kansas, who was then advised by the Assistant United States Attorney handling the case to refrain from searching the computer and hard drive until consent or an additional warrant 3 could be obtained. Around the time that Agent Perkins was on the phone, an agent who was not aware of the potential defect in Warrant 2 was interviewing Krueger. During this interview, Krueger waived his Miranda rights, admitted to viewing child pornography and trading it with others over the internet, and authorized HSI agents to assume his online presence with respect to his peer-to-peer networking account for investigative purposes. Consistent with the Assistant United States Attorney’s advice, the agents who seized Krueger’s computer and hard drive in Oklahoma waited to search the devices until a Kansas Police Department officer visited Krueger’s residence a few weeks later and obtained Krueger’s written consent. A subsequent search of Krueger’s computer and hard drive revealed evidence that Krueger had downloaded and traded child pornography using his peer-to-peer networking account. As a result, Krueger was charged with distribution of child pornography in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2252(a)(2).