Kelcie Miller, 26, previously worked for the Madison County Public Defender’s office as an attorney, despite failing the bar exam twice, from October 2018 to May, 2019. Her legal carrier is now over.

After six months on the job, Ms. Miller was terminated because she was not the licensed attorney that she claimed to be. A court reporter double-checking the spelling of the attorney’s first name against a state list of licensed attorneys noticed made the discovery and reported the discrepancy.

Ms. Miller has been charged with felony theft, false impersonation of an attorney and forgery. The authorities investigating the case have collected computer evidence of a forged law license used by Ms. Miller. Officers were able to obtain a search warrant in May and took possession of several items used by Ms. Miller during her employment with the Madison County government, including a cellphone.

The Telegraph reports that forensic analysis of web browser history was performed and identified several searches for “practicing law without a license,” a log-in to the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission website, and an image of a fellow attorney’s ID card. It is alleged that Ms. Miller asked attorney Daniel Harrow for a photo of his ID card so that she could show her mother a picture of what the ID card looked like. The computer evidence showed that a fake ID card image was created on May 20, 2019 which is the same day that Madison County Public Defender. John Rekowski confronted Miller about her credentials.

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As we wrote on June 4, actor Kevin Spacey and his attorney made spoliation claims against the accuser. This week,  NBC News reported that the accuser has invoked his Fifth Amendment right in regards to testifying about the missing cellphone evidence. Counsel for the accuser told Judge Thomas Barrett of the Nantucket District Court that they have been unable to find the missing phone.

While on the stand, the accuser stated that he had not altered or deleted potential evidence on the phone in question back in 2016. Spacey’s defense attorney, Alan Jackson, reminded the accuser that altering evidence is a felony.

In response to the invocation of the Fifth Amendment, defense counsel argued that the entire case should be dismissed. As of now, Judge Barrett has not dismissed the case but did mention that the case could be dismissed due to the sole witness invoking his Fifth Amendment rights and not being able to testify. The judge set the next hearing for July 31.

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Video from surveillance or CCTV systems can be a make or break component of a matter. Video recorded from an Oklahoma woman’s security system will likely take center stage as she deals with a charge of second-degree arson and discharging of a firearm into a dwelling.

As reported by KLTV, when fire investigators arrived at the scene of a condemned house fire in Del City Oklahoma, they were alerted of an ongoing feud between the owners of the home and their neighbor. A video surveillance system was noted on a neighboring residence and the device was taken into custody for review. The city police department’s computer forensic investigators were able to extract video from the system that showed the owner of the device shooting a pistol into the home over the fence that separates the properties.  The video goes on to show the woman throw a flaming bath towel into an open door starting the blaze. Luckily the home was vacant at the time of the fire, but hardly a neighborly thing to do!

These days, surveillance systems are popping up almost everywhere as their cost drops and home and business owners opt to install the devices. Digital video surveillance systems share more in common with modern computers than their VHS tape-based predecessors. Because of this, many of the digital forensic techniques Sensei uses to analyze computers can also be applied to these machines. We are able to extract and authenticate data from almost all systems and even attempt recovery of previously existing or deleted video.

Email: sensei@senseient.com   Phone: 703.359.0700
Digital Forensics/Cybersecurity/Information Technology
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The Cascade County Sheriff’s Office (CCSO) in Montana has just recruited a new member to their team, a furry, four-legged canine that will assist an electronic detection. The sheriff’s office believes that the addition of this new K9 unit will be extremely beneficial to the office as well as the community, KTVH reports. The K9 has been trained to find electronic evidence that could be pertinent to ongoing investigations.

The dogs main focus will be assisting the CCSO’s Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force, and assisting a detective in finding electronic devices, which can be extremely small and hard to find. The K9 has been trained to detect a chemical that is found in electronic devices. The chemical is located in standard device such as SD cards, micro SD cards, and laptops.

In many cases, electronic evidence is crucial, and having a dog that can help locate hidden electronic devices could prove extremely beneficial. Often, when searches for digital evidence are performed at residential and commercial properties, itcan be easy to miss evidence that has been concealed. Adding an additional layer of detection could prove beneficial to future search and seizure operations.

The CCSO is set to get their furry new friend in November, and hope to have the dog deployed on search warrant missions beginning in 2020.

Email: sensei@senseient.com   Phone: 703.359.0700
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Israeli company Cellebrite has begun promoting a new tool that allows for the extraction of data from all models of the Apple iPhone, regardless of passcode protection. 

A tweet published by Cellebrite introduces UFED Premium, “an exclusive solution for law enforcement to unlock and extract data from all iOS and high-end Android devices.” A webpage from Cellebrite documents the capabilities of the new tool.

The extraction is initiated by determining the passcode for all Apple devices and certain Samsung devices. UFED Premium claims to have support for all Apple devices running iOS 7 to iOS 12.3, along with support for certain Android devices including recent Samsung Galaxy models. The capabilities of the tool include gaining access to third-party application data, chat conversations, downloaded emails and attachments, as well as deleted information. Cellebrite plans to continue adding support for popular device manufacturers such as Motorola, Huawei, LG and Xiaomi.

Currently, the software is only available for use by law enforcement and is not available for public use.

Email: sensei@senseient.com   Phone: 703.359.0700
Digital Forensics/Cybersecurity/Information Technology
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Losing a loved one is never easy. As you are going through the process of saving cherished memories, you may encounter much more data than you ever thought could exist. Such is the reality of the world we live in dominated by digital photographs, videos and social media. Your loved one may have countless photos, videos, messages and other memories on mobile devices, computers and social media that you would like to preserve and capture. Performing such a task yourself during this time is overwhelming to most people, leaving them unsure of where or how to start.

If you need help preserving your loved one’s electronic memories, we are introducing a new service that does just that, Preserving a Digital Legacy. The digital forensic experts at Sensei Enterprises would be honored to assist you and your family with preserving the digital assets that your loved one has left behind.

If you are looking for assistance in navigating your loved one’s electronic data, please contact us to learn more about what we can do to help you through this difficult process.

Email: sensei@senseient.com   Phone: 703.359.0700
Digital Forensics/Cybersecurity/Information Technology
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The West Midlands Police department of Birmingham England has been receiving quite a bit of attention, and a significant amount of criticism, since posting a job opening in their Digital Forensics Team.

The posting, found here, describes an unpaid volunteer position in which the applicant would be expected to “provide specialist technical support enabling the recovery, processing and viewing of data from various sources”. Provided the volunteers receive the necessary training to assist in these types of matters, many have still raised concerns with the possible issues that could arise from having unpaid interns handling  the intake, storage and review of evidence. What has proved to be especially concerning to many is that the posting states “Applicants must be aware they will routinely come across distressing imagery including indecent images, fatal road traffic accidents, live CCTV footage recovery of incidents.” Indecent images has been perceived by many to indicate images involving child abuse and pornography.

A former West Midlands Police forensic officer’s story of her experience working in the unit was published by the BBC and can be found here. The former officer eventually chose to quit the position after being diagnosed with PTSD from her role collecting evidence. Her story serves as a cautionary tale for prospective volunteers. For their part the West Midlands Police say that all of their staff and volunteers have access to counsellors 24 hours a day and that enhanced checks are carried out on individuals who perform review of potentially disturbing images. 

Email: sensei@senseient.com   Phone: 703.359.0700
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Modern day criminal investigations are increasingly reliant upon online evidence, which may be stored internationally and require months of judicial process to gain access to. Negotiations are set to begin between the European Union and the United States to speed up the process by which electronic evidence is exchanged between nations in criminal investigations.

Currently, the US must abide by EU data protection laws, which can complicate the process in turning over electronic evidence involving EU citizens. The proposed agreement re-works this framework to allow for a more efficient exchange of evidence without the legal risk for U.S. companies. The agreement also focuses on gaining direct cooperation with international internet service providers to shorten the time required to obtain the requested information.

European Commissioner Julian King made a statement on the importance of the negotiations: “For far too long, criminals and terrorists have been abusing modern technology to commit their crimes. By setting international standards to obtain access to electronic evidence, we are taking yet another step to close the space in which they operate by ensuring law enforcement authorities can more effectively investigate and prosecute them, with full regard for fundamental rights.”

While the thought of an increased speed of evidence exchange sounds beneficial, citizens’ rights to data protection and privacy must prioritized. For this reason, it is suspected negotiations will take a considerable amount of time to reach a conclusion.

Email: sensei@senseient.com   Phone: 703.359.0700
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In October of 2018, Ho Ka Terence Yung pled guilty to cyberstalking the University of Texas alum who conducted interviews for admittance into school’s law program. While Yung did not get accepted into the UT law school program, he did get a full scholarship to attend another law school within the state of Texas.

While attending law school, he started to blame the alum who conducted the interview because he was not admitted into the UT program. He then proceeded to start an online campaign of cyber harassment against the alum that included posting violent and racist statements on multiple websites that were falsely attributed to the victim. One instance of the cyberharassment included Yung pretending to be a female candidate for admission claiming that she was sexually assaulted by the victim during the law school interview. Post were also created online claiming that the victim was accused of child molestation.

The FBI and local police worked together to gather electronic evidence in this case. According to the FBI, Yung had also placed ads on websites calling for people to show up at the victim’s home, which activity was ultimately traced back to his roommate’s computer.

The FBI and U.S. Attorney for Delaware obtained records that proved Yung had used his roommate’s computer and internet access, along with his work computer to commit the crime and conceal what he was doing.

Yung recently was sentenced to 46 months in prison.

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Chief U.S. Magistrate Judge Ronald E. Bush denied law enforcement’s request to demand the owner of a Google pixel to unlock her device with a fingerprint to allow for a forensic search.

The Idaho based case involves a suspect accused of possession of child pornography and an encrypted Google Pixel. The device was located at a property of interest, but was locked and unable to be searched. When law enforcement requested the owner of the device use their fingerprint to unencrypt its contents, the judge ruled that a search warrant lacks the authority to unlock devices with fingerprints, face recognition, or iris scanning.

Judge Bush cited the Fifth Amendment when making his decision, stating, “A fingerprint is testimonial information that an individual willingly gives to the government and can be withheld to protect the person from self-incrimination.” Demanding an individual to unlock a phone with biometric data would also breach the Fourth Amendment. The Fourth Amendment protects citizens from unreasonable searches. A breach of the Fifth Amendment would “inherently mean the search was unreasonable” stated Bush.

A similar ruling was made months prior when Judge Kandis Westmore in California ruled in favor of biometric protection for unreasonable searches by law enforcement.

Email: sensei@senseient.com   Phone: 703.359.0700
Digital Forensics/Cybersecurity/Information Technology
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