Good and Bad Guys turning to gizmos and gadgets of the Information Revolution
By Rod Levaque, Daily Bulletin Staff Writer 092506
The perpetrators of a deadly Ontario bank robbery were convicted, in part, because cell phone towers pinpointed their path to and from the crime scene.
A suspect in a double slaying in Chino Hills was caught with a picture of the murder weapon saved on his mobile phone.
And state-of-the art satellite tracking technology in modern cell phones has helped police chase down fleeing criminals in real time.
As bad guys go more high-tech, police are following close behind to catch them, and few tools of the digital age have proven as useful to crime solvers as cellular phones and the trail of evidence they leave behind.
"I'd say just about every case has cell phone evidence involved anymore," said Robert Dean, a former San Bernardino County homicide detective who now works as an investigator for the San Diego County District Attorney's Office. "It's a very useful tool. It's very good stuff."
Police began mining cell phones for evidence when the devices went mainstream in the late 1990s.
Since then, mobile phones have exploded in popularity. Nearly 70 percent of Americans - or some 207 million people - now use them in daily life.
That includes the criminal element.
Modern mobile phones can deliver a treasure of information to detectives. Investigators can use records of calls to determine the whereabouts of a suspect - or at least his cell phone - at the time of a crime.
Police can figure out to whom a suspect was talking, and they sometimes even find incriminating text messages, pictures and videos saved on wireless devices.
San Bernardino County sheriff's detectives arrested a reputed gang member earlier this year on suspicion of the shootings of two young men on a quiet street in Chino Hills.
Victor Marez had with him a .38 caliber gun that later proved to be the murder weapon, investigators said. On his cell phone, detectives found a photo of the gun with a caption reading "My true love," according to police reports.
Marez was charged with two counts of murder and is awaiting trial.
Phone records in other cases have been even more damning.
A murderous bank robber was sentenced to death and his getaway driver got life in prison in a case built largely around cell phone records that linked them to the crime scene.
Ontario detectives used the records to show jurors Joe Henry Abbott's movements on the day he killed a Brink's security guard inside a Bank of America.
Wireless phone companies track the antennas used to connect a call to a specific phone.
In Abbott's case, the records showed calls from his phone pinging off a series of antennas as he drove eastbound from his home in West Covina toward the Ontario bank on the morning of the robbery.
During the time of the robbery Abbott's cell phone was inactive.
Then, immediately afterward, it began pinging off towers heading eastbound again.
"That was just invaluable," said Deputy District Attorney Michael Dowd, who prosecuted the case. "It corroborated all of his movements."
Authorities were also able to see who Abbott called that morning. His getaway driver, Edward "Monster" White, was on that list.
"People have to keep stories straight, people have to keep plans straight," Dowd said. "And the way to do it this day and age is on the cell phone."
Wireless service providers are sensitive to privacy concerns of their customers and, to that end, they generally demand a subpoena or court order before handing over information to police.
Ken Muche, spokesman for Verizon Wireless, said the crush of such requests from police agencies prompted the company to create a special division specifically to retrieve information for law enforcement.
Verizon also routinely attends police conferences to give workshops for officers on what sort of information it can provide and when it can provide it, he said.
"We've seen a real partnership emerge, and the system seems to be working out," he said.
Muche would not say how many times the company has been called upon by police to deliver information.
Several detectives refused to discuss their use of cell phone evidence for fear of tipping criminals to tactics. One of those veteran officers said the phones are delivering a "gold mine" of evidence.
More sophisticated criminals, however, are already catching on.
Some, for example, now buy prepaid cell phones with cash so their phone numbers can't be traced back to them.
Dean, however, said as long as cell phones continue to grow in popularity and power, they will remain valuable tools to police.
"Criminals are getting wiser," Dean said. "But because of the capability of phones today with video, audio and photography, there will always be data somewhere out there we can retrieve."
Rod Leveque can be reached by e-mail at r_leveque@dailybulletin.com or by phone at (909) 483-9325.
BS Ranch Perspective:
Yes it is always the case! Criminals always have been getting wiser changing with the times! They seem to change sometimes faster then the times! After all look at the P.C. Computer, the Spy Ware, and Ad-Ware that attack the PC in order to steal information so that people that sell or get information can get it from the computer, such as account Numbers, and Passwords, and the like. IT is always a dangerous thing when that is the case! They seem to always be changing and the Ad-ware, Spy-ware computer programs are always changing everyday! After all there are updates everyday on my computer virus program for such animals. They are ever changing every day! that is why they must up-date the program every day!
Well, the criminals keep one step ahead of us just like the spy/ad-ware virus programs are constantly attacking our PC computers! It is a wonder that more and more people are not starting to switch to the Apple PC from the Windows software, rather then go through the potential headache of the other. Sad huh?
BSRanch
No comments:
Post a Comment