The FBI used a Best Buy Geek Squad technician/employee to spot child porn and other criminal activity on customer computers turned in for repair.
http://www.latimes.com/socal/daily-pilot/news/tn-dpt-me-0520-geek-squad-20160519-story.html
Apparently the FBI used this person to spot crime. Lawyer in a child porn case says the employee's efforts amount to illegal searches especially since special tools are used to fix/view hard drives/computers in need of repair-he just didn't spot or see evidence of crime. Informant says under Best Buy policy they are supposed to report suspicious activity so one way or another it's getting reported. Defendant's lawyer also said since he was paid $500 by the FBI one year that makes him paid law enforcement conducting searches/illegal searches for crime.
It's ify but if evidence of crime is going to be reported for reasons other than financial incentive(Best Buy policy) I don't see how paid informants are an issue here. BUT it does raise some evidence issues just for the fact a computer/evidence used in a criminal case was out of law enforcement custody/supervision which leads to chain of custody issues.
Also another note Best Buy has been caught in the past viewing/using customer's computer content for their own purposes raising confidentiality and professionalism issues.
http://www.latimes.com/socal/daily-pilot/news/tn-dpt-me-0520-geek-squad-20160519-story.html
Apparently the FBI used this person to spot crime. Lawyer in a child porn case says the employee's efforts amount to illegal searches especially since special tools are used to fix/view hard drives/computers in need of repair-he just didn't spot or see evidence of crime. Informant says under Best Buy policy they are supposed to report suspicious activity so one way or another it's getting reported. Defendant's lawyer also said since he was paid $500 by the FBI one year that makes him paid law enforcement conducting searches/illegal searches for crime.
It's ify but if evidence of crime is going to be reported for reasons other than financial incentive(Best Buy policy) I don't see how paid informants are an issue here. BUT it does raise some evidence issues just for the fact a computer/evidence used in a criminal case was out of law enforcement custody/supervision which leads to chain of custody issues.
Also another note Best Buy has been caught in the past viewing/using customer's computer content for their own purposes raising confidentiality and professionalism issues.