Search Warrant Request Probable Cause

Search Warrant Request

Probable Cause Statement for Search Warrant

The State of Nevada

Computer Brand & Model: HP Pavilion

County of Clark

Laptop: dark umber color, with 12 GB

DDR3 System Memory and 500 GB

5400 RPM Hard Drive

There is in Clark County, Nevada, a suspected place described as and located as follows: A computer, (HP Pavilion Laptop, with 12 GB DDR System Memory and 500 GB 5400 RPM HardDrive), containing data storage media such as hard drives, CDs or other media. Said computer is presently located at the suspect's location: 123 Main Street, Apartment A, Las Vegas, Nevada.

There is at said suspected place items constituting evidence of a criminal offense or constituting evidence tending to show that a particular person committed a criminal offense:

a. Data stored within the computer or other processing and storage devices, to include images, text, programs, encryption routines and algorithms, or other data that may be decoded, reconstituted, or otherwise manipulated to produce, utilize, transmit, receive, encrypt, encode, or display such images, text, programs, encryption routines, and algorithms.

b. Electronic communications stored within computers or other processing and storage devices as e-mail. Such information and/or communications that may be in the form of electronic communications (such as e-mail) residing on any media (e.g., magnetic, optical or digital media). That information may include electronic communications held or maintained in electronic storage by an electronic communication service or remote computing service, as those services are defined within 18 U.S.C. 2703. These communications are referred to herein as "stored communications." These communications related to this case stored in the suspect's computer or other electronic devices as e-mail. That federal law, which is part of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, allows interception of such electronic communication pursuant to a search warrant.

c. Electronic communications (printed or stored) between the suspect and undercover Officer John Smith.

3. Said suspected place is in charge of and controlled by each of the following persons:

Ana Asif, 123 Main Street, Apartment A., Las Vegas, Nevada.

4. It is the belief of the Officer John Smith, and he hereby charges and accuses, that: Ana Asif, 123 Main Street, Apartment A., Las Vegas, Nevada, committed the offense of planning a terrorist attack on the local bus system.

Officer John Smith has probable cause for said belief by reason of the following facts:

a. During the course of this investigation and preparation of this warrant, Officer John Smith has consulted with an Investigator for the Clark County Criminal District Attorney's Office, Las Vegas, Clark County, Nevada. The investigator is responsible for the investigation of cases involving computers utilized in criminal activities.

b. Based upon your Officer John Smith's knowledge, training, and experience along with the experience of other law enforcement personnel with whom Officer John Smith has consulted on this issue, your Officer John Smith knows that effective searches and seizures of evidence from computers commonly require law enforcement officers to seize most or all computer items (hardware, software, and instructions) and then process these items later in a controlled laboratory environment. This is true because of the following: Computer storage devices (hard disks, diskettes, tape, and removable drives) can store the equivalent of thousands or millions of pages of information. When users desire to conceal criminal evidence, they often store the information in random order with deceptive file names. Directories and subdirectories that contain these files can also be electronically hidden from normal view. Special forensic software is required to detect these hidden directories. This requires that searching authorities examine all the stored data to determine whether it is included in the search warrant. This sorting process can take weeks or months, depending on the volume of data stored. This would make it impractical to attempt this kind of forensic analysis on site at the time of search warrant execution. Searching computer systems for criminal evidence is a highly technical process requiring expert skills in a properly controlled environment. The vast array of computer hardware and software available requires even computer experts to specialize in some systems and applications. It is difficult to predict before a search which expert should analyze the system and its data. The search of a computer is an exacting scientific procedure which is designed to protect the integrity of the evidence and to recover even hidden, erased, compressed, password protected, and/or encrypted files. Since computer evidence is extremely vulnerable to tampering or destruction from both external sources or from destructive codes imbedded in the system in the form of a "booby trap," the controlled environment of a forensic laboratory is essential to its complete and accurate analysis and retrieval. In order to fully retrieve data from a computer system, the forensic analyst needs all magnetic storage devices, as well as the central processing unit (CPU).