US v. Dugan: In 2019, the FBI got information from “a foreign agency known to the FVI, and with a history of providing reliable and accurate information” that a particular IP address had accessed a “dark web” site known to share child pornography. The IP address was traced to Dugan’s home, where a search warrant was executed and more than 1200 images of child pornography were recovered. Charged with accessing child pornography with intent to view it, Dugan sought to compel discovery regarding the foreign investigation and, ultimately, to suppress the evidence discovered as a result. The district court denied both motions and Dugan entered a conditional guilty plea, after which he was sentenced to 54 months in prison.
On appeal, the Fourth Circuit affirmed Dugan’s conviction and sentence. As to the motion to compel, the court agreed with the district court that Dugan’s request lacked necessary evidentiary support as to the foreign investigation, relying “primarily on speculative conclusions drawn by his counsel,” such as a “generalized understanding of how the TOR networks operate.” Nor could Dugan show that the foreign investigation demonstrated the necessary agency relationship with the FBI that would be needed to raise a Fourth Amendment issue. As to the motion to suppress, the court held that although there was only evidence of “a single instance of Dugan accessing” website, the “affirmative steps required for access to the site,” including requiring users to upload “50 to 100 megabytes of ‘indecent material of children’”, demonstrated that “Dugan knew that such content was available and he actively sought it out.”
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