|
Post by permutojoe on Sept 10, 2022 14:40:08 GMT
So a friend of mine's mother found child porn on her computer earlier this year. It was determined that her 10 year old grandson received the pics from an online predator while using the computer. The police took the computer 3 months or so ago, and to my eye are giving her the runaround as to why she hasn't gotten it back yet. They have told her they are building a case against the guy who did it, so I get this is a very serious issue. Problem is she needs the computer for medical portals (she has serious medical issues), emails, recreational things where she gets on zoom with groups of people, etc.
Every time she calls them, they tell her something different. First was that they needed to identify and clean all the illegal pics off the computer. Then a few times when she called her point of contact, the woman told her she didn't want to keep bothering the SBI agents doing the investigation. Now they're telling her they may need to wipe the hard drive entirely, which would be a huge hardship for her to reassemble the machine as it was. My friend would obviously be able to help with that but I'm wondering if she maybe needs a lawyer to represent her so she can get her computer back ASAP (3 months just seems very excessive) with minimal changes made (i.e. just get rid of all the child porn pics). Feels like they're taking advantage of an old woman who doesn't know how to stick up for herself. Anyone know?
|
|
|
Post by CrepedCrusader on Sept 11, 2022 5:20:08 GMT
I would definitely suggest she get a lawyer in this.
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Sept 11, 2022 6:51:48 GMT
Asking for a friend, eh? How did it go from her finding child porn on her personal computer to the police having it?
|
|
|
Post by Stammerhead on Sept 11, 2022 12:37:22 GMT
Asking for a friend, eh? How did it go from her finding child porn on her personal computer to the police having it? Perhaps she reported it. Once it’s been reported the police would take it away for investigation but they seem to be giving folk good reasons for not reporting this sort of thing.
|
|
|
Post by persistenceofvision on Sept 11, 2022 13:23:08 GMT
Over here, the police would confiscate anyone's PC (or mobile) if they were found guilty of possessing indecent images, just like they'd confiscate drugs or weapons. If she did the responsible thing and reported someone sending her grandson these pictures, I don't know what would happen, though the police temporarily having the computer in their custody sounds likely. Unfortunately, the more serious a criminal offence is, the longer a prosecution takes. I don't expect lawyers are any less expensive in the OP's country than they are in mine, but hiring one might be a good idea.
|
|
|
Post by Nora on Sept 11, 2022 16:00:57 GMT
So a friend of mine's mother found child porn on her computer earlier this year. It was determined that her 10 year old grandson received the pics from an online predator while using the computer. The police took the computer 3 months or so ago, and to my eye are giving her the runaround as to why she hasn't gotten it back yet. They have told her they are building a case against the guy who did it, so I get this is a very serious issue. Problem is she needs the computer for medical portals (she has serious medical issues), emails, recreational things where she gets on zoom with groups of people, etc. Every time she calls them, they tell her something different. First was that they needed to identify and clean all the illegal pics off the computer. Then a few times when she called her point of contact, the woman told her she didn't want to keep bothering the SBI agents doing the investigation. Now they're telling her they may need to wipe the hard drive entirely, which would be a huge hardship for her to reassemble the machine as it was. My friend would obviously be able to help with that but I'm wondering if she maybe needs a lawyer to represent her so she can get her computer back ASAP (3 months just seems very excessive) with minimal changes made (i.e. just get rid of all the child porn pics). Feels like they're taking advantage of an old woman who doesn't know how to stick up for herself. Anyone know? yes she needs a laywer. and a lawyer may have success with just one or two phonecalls. Tell her to get a lawyer and talk about a flat fee/cap on their fees so they cant run a high bill, initial consultation should be free of charge too. If they want to keep the computer permanently the lawyer can challenge that. but now i am thinking, that it may be easier/make more sense to get her a new computer… that would cost less than a lawyer…. and she should be able to get HER essential data from the computer under the supervision of the police/agents. tough case for an elderly am sure
|
|
|
Post by Nora on Sept 11, 2022 16:01:35 GMT
Asking for a friend, eh? How did it go from her finding child porn on her personal computer to the police having it? Perhaps she reported it. Once it’s been reported the police would take it away for investigation but they seem to be giving folk good reasons for not reporting this sort of thing. and she did a good thing by reporting it. could be worse if she didnt as possesing cp is a problem on its own.
|
|
|
Post by permutojoe on Sept 11, 2022 16:11:47 GMT
Asking for a friend, eh? How did it go from her finding child porn on her personal computer to the police having it? She obviously reported it.
|
|
|
Post by permutojoe on Sept 11, 2022 16:14:24 GMT
Over here, the police would confiscate anyone's PC (or mobile) if they were found guilty of possessing indecent images, just like they'd confiscate drugs or weapons. If she did the responsible thing and reported someone sending her grandson these pictures, I don't know what would happen, though the police temporarily having the computer in their custody sounds likely. Unfortunately, the more serious a criminal offence is, the longer a prosecution takes. I don't expect lawyers are any less expensive in the OP's country than they are in mine, but hiring one might be a good idea. I don't understand why they wouldn't just clone the HD, wipe all the images off her HD and return it. This could all easily happen in a week, and for someone with connections probably in a day or two. Maybe the clone would open up an additional angle for the defense, but we're talking about an elderly woman who much of her life including essential medical stuff takes place through her computer.
|
|
|
Post by permutojoe on Sept 11, 2022 17:01:26 GMT
So a friend of mine's mother found child porn on her computer earlier this year. It was determined that her 10 year old grandson received the pics from an online predator while using the computer. The police took the computer 3 months or so ago, and to my eye are giving her the runaround as to why she hasn't gotten it back yet. They have told her they are building a case against the guy who did it, so I get this is a very serious issue. Problem is she needs the computer for medical portals (she has serious medical issues), emails, recreational things where she gets on zoom with groups of people, etc. Every time she calls them, they tell her something different. First was that they needed to identify and clean all the illegal pics off the computer. Then a few times when she called her point of contact, the woman told her she didn't want to keep bothering the SBI agents doing the investigation. Now they're telling her they may need to wipe the hard drive entirely, which would be a huge hardship for her to reassemble the machine as it was. My friend would obviously be able to help with that but I'm wondering if she maybe needs a lawyer to represent her so she can get her computer back ASAP (3 months just seems very excessive) with minimal changes made (i.e. just get rid of all the child porn pics). Feels like they're taking advantage of an old woman who doesn't know how to stick up for herself. Anyone know? yes she needs a laywer. and a lawyer may have success with just one or two phonecalls. Tell her to get a lawyer and talk about a flat fee/cap on their fees so they cant run a high bill, initial consultation should be free of charge too. If they want to keep the computer permanently the lawyer can challenge that. but now i am thinking, that it may be easier/make more sense to get her a new computer… that would cost less than a lawyer…. and she should be able to get HER essential data from the computer under the supervision of the police/agents. tough case for an elderly am sure New computer could be cheaper but could lead to all sorts of problems getting back up to speed. I think she has a backup drive but not sure how well that would work for her.
|
|
|
Post by divtal on Sept 11, 2022 19:26:00 GMT
I add my voice to those suggesting that she see a lawyer. There might be organizations in her area that do "Pro Bono" work, if money is a problem. Although, I would doubt that your friend's Mom is in trouble, especially if she contacted the police.
The authorities take this very seriously ... and rightly so. If adults want to get involved in the porn "industry," they can make a adult decision. But, the law cannot extend that to children. It's child abuse!
A few years ago, a former colleague got involved in sending/receiving child porn. I didn't have direct knowledge of the legal probe, as it had been about 10 years, since I'd worked with him. But, he was a local celebrity, and there was a lot of publicity. The authorities seized his computer, and had it for a year (or almost a year). We guessed that they have to try to trace everyone, who might be involved in the computer "ring," of sending, receiving OR being involved in producing the actual event that involved the children. If that's the case, they may have only her computer to work that "trace."
Our former colleague did some "time," because he had been involved in both sending and receiving, although he wasn't involved in the actual events that were photographed.
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Sept 11, 2022 20:39:59 GMT
Asking for a friend, eh? How did it go from her finding child porn on her personal computer to the police having it? She obviously reported it. How is that obvious? Your OP doesn't say who determined that her 10 year old grandson received the pics from an online predator. I guess she did that and not the police. Thanks for clearing that up?
|
|
|
Post by permutojoe on Sept 11, 2022 21:22:40 GMT
She obviously reported it. How is that obvious? Your OP doesn't say who determined that her 10 year old grandson received the pics from an online predator. I guess she did that and not the police. Thanks for clearing that up? I don't know too many people who would find child porn on their computer and not report it immediately.
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Sept 11, 2022 21:34:17 GMT
How is that obvious? Your OP doesn't say who determined that her 10 year old grandson received the pics from an online predator. I guess she did that and not the police. Thanks for clearing that up? I don't know too many people who would find child porn on their computer and not report it immediately. I don't know anyone who would. Everyone I know would just delete it and hope nobody saw it. As a matter of fact, I'd even go so far as to say that if I did that, I would be the one in jail.
|
|
|
Post by enigma72 on Sept 11, 2022 23:20:14 GMT
Tell her to get a New computer
|
|
|
Post by Nora on Sept 12, 2022 16:43:04 GMT
I don't know too many people who would find child porn on their computer and not report it immediately. I don't know anyone who would. Everyone I know would just delete it and hope nobody saw it. As a matter of fact, I'd even go so far as to say that if I did that, I would be the one in jail. really? Interesting. With how serious the charges would be and how seriously authorities tend to take it I would report it too. From law enforcement pov, if you were guilty of procuring it why would you report yourself right? Plus the metadata could likely support your case/ show you did not seek for it yourself but it was sent to you/etc. I would hope so at least. Never dealt with these cases my self but my first instinct would be also to report it if cp was found on my computer out of nowhere…
|
|
|
Post by persistenceofvision on Sept 12, 2022 18:07:17 GMT
Over here, the police would confiscate anyone's PC (or mobile) if they were found guilty of possessing indecent images, just like they'd confiscate drugs or weapons. If she did the responsible thing and reported someone sending her grandson these pictures, I don't know what would happen, though the police temporarily having the computer in their custody sounds likely. Unfortunately, the more serious a criminal offence is, the longer a prosecution takes. I don't expect lawyers are any less expensive in the OP's country than they are in mine, but hiring one might be a good idea. I don't understand why they wouldn't just clone the HD, wipe all the images off her HD and return it. This could all easily happen in a week, and for someone with connections probably in a day or two. Maybe the clone would open up an additional angle for the defense, but we're talking about an elderly woman who much of her life including essential medical stuff takes place through her computer. If your police are anything like ours, there's probably a huge backlog of cases for them to work through, and the reason for what's going on is bureaucratic rather than sinister. Computers can be lifelines for elderly people, as you say, and the pandemic highlighted that. Besides getting a lawyer or buying a new computer, I guess the other options are a) hiring a laptop [dunno how much it costs to do this], or b) phoning again and again, taking names and saying she's going to make a formal complaint [sadly, sometimes when you make yourself unpleasant it gets results]. I hope this all gets resolved in your friend's mother's favour sooner rather than later.
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Sept 13, 2022 3:05:12 GMT
I don't know anyone who would. Everyone I know would just delete it and hope nobody saw it. As a matter of fact, I'd even go so far as to say that if I did that, I would be the one in jail. really? Interesting. With how serious the charges would be and how seriously authorities tend to take it I would report it too. From law enforcement pov, if you were guilty of procuring it why would you report yourself right? Plus the metadata could likely support your case/ show you did not seek for it yourself but it was sent to you/etc. I would hope so at least. Never dealt with these cases my self but my first instinct would be also to report it if cp was found on my computer out of nowhere… Oh sure, I'm just going to call the police and tell them that I have child porn on my computer, but I don't know how it got there. Sounds a bit like "my dog ate my homework."
|
|
|
Post by Nora on Sept 13, 2022 12:19:39 GMT
really? Interesting. With how serious the charges would be and how seriously authorities tend to take it I would report it too. From law enforcement pov, if you were guilty of procuring it why would you report yourself right? Plus the metadata could likely support your case/ show you did not seek for it yourself but it was sent to you/etc. I would hope so at least. Never dealt with these cases my self but my first instinct would be also to report it if cp was found on my computer out of nowhere… Oh sure, I'm just going to call the police and tell them that I have child porn on my computer, but I don't know how it got there. Sounds a bit like "my dog ate my homework." if you were the actual perv, what would be your motivation of doing that?
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Sept 13, 2022 12:45:31 GMT
Oh sure, I'm just going to call the police and tell them that I have child porn on my computer, but I don't know how it got there. Sounds a bit like "my dog ate my homework." if you were the actual perv, what would be your motivation of doing that? If there's child porn on my computer, I don't think it's going to matter much even if I weren't the actual perv.
|
|