United States v. Buchanan

485 F.3d 274 (2007)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

D worked as a park ranger. Each ranger was assigned a computer that required a unique password for access and would log the actions on the computer to a record tied to the specific ranger. A system administrator received a complaint that the Texoma station that the office's internet access was slow. The administrator used a program to determine that D's computer was slowing down the office's access by connecting to 'an X-rated porn site.' D's computer use was monitored, and it was determined that D continued to view pornography on his office computer. D admitted the misuse and stated he would never do it again. Jordan, D's manager, received a report that D was again viewing pornography. Using an administrator's password, Jordan accessed D's computer and discovered pornographic photographs and movies involving adults as well as bestiality. Jordan printed out an image and D again admitted to viewing the pornography and promised to cease these activities. Jordan received another report and again found pornographic images on D's computer, and suspended D for two days. Still again, Jordan found pornographic images in D's temporary internet folder. Jordan copied some of the temporary internet folder files and the next day, Jordan saw that more files had been added to the temporary internet folder. Some were images of nude, prepubescent children. Files were being added and deleted as he viewed the folder. A number of graphic files with sexually explicit names were automatically downloaded from a webpage or webpages containing these images on the internet over a span of several minutes during a single computer session. Jordan copied some of the files, that included both child and adult pornography, onto a CD that was later turned over to law enforcement officials. FBI Agent Wheeler investigated and found that four large images on the CD depicted children from 10 to 12 years old engaged in sexually explicit conduct. D admitted that he had visited internet sites containing child pornography and that he had in the past saved such images, viewed them, and later deleted them. De said the sites he typically visited contained both adult and child pornography. The CD contained 54 images depicting minors from 7 to 15 years old. Fifty were small, 'thumbnail' images and there were four larger images of child pornography. There were also a number of encrypted files on D's hard drive. The files were password-protected and buried nine directories deep through the creation of multiple subdirectories. Scramdisk was also on the computer. Scramdisk is used to disguise files. The examiner found over 3,000 pornographic images on the hard drive, including more than 300 images of children from 3 to 15 years old engaged in sexually explicit conduct, each of which was hidden and password-protected. D was charged with four counts of receipt and attempted receipt of child pornography, one count for each of the four larger images from the CD provided by Jordan and a fifth count of possession of child pornography. D was convicted on all five counts and sentenced. D appealed and argues that the convictions for receipt of child pornography in counts one through four of the superceding indictment are multiplicitous.