The Joel Bieber Firm

     The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette describes the disgusting case of a man who is accused of downloading pictures of minors, and then being charged with possession of child pornography. Normally, I would not blog on this kind of case except that the reporter’s description shows a course of events from denial to finally admitting criminal conduct. An anatomy of a criminal investigation.

     A vice president of computer network security  has been charged with downloading and sharing images of minors. It surprised me that his position included computer security. As a background,  45-year-old Duane Amity is married with two children.

     The FBI first began its investigation when it received a tip that someone was using a specific Internet provider address to share documents, with files names that suggested child pornography. The FBI then subpoenaed Verizon Communications for the IP address, and based on that information then executed a search warrant at the indicated address.

     In response to the subpoena, nearly 3000 files were flagged. In the text of the files, investigators found the term “PTHC” in several search returns; and file descriptions similar to the ones that possibly contained child pornography. Now the evidence was taking shape.

     In one folder, investigators found more than 900 images, which had been deleted or were no longer “active” on that computer. Some of the images appeared to be of young girls. When questioned, Amity told investigators that he did know that “PTHC” often stands for “pre-teen hardcore”, because of his personal computer investigations at work.

     At that point, Amity did deny ever seeing anything relating to the text file, at first, and also said that he “did not know anything about child pornography”.  As the investigation proceeded, Amity then admitted that over the last ten years, he had looked at child pornography only to then delete the images (The walls starting to crumble)

     Then, Amity could not explain why he would look at these images except that he claimed that he had been molested as a child. Subsequently, he volunteered that he denied ever improperly touching a child or sharing any child pornography photos, but that something could have happened accidentally.

     Then, Amity told investigators that he decided that he needed counseling. He apparently emotionally exhaled by stating that, “although it sounded odd, this investigation was a God send to him and his wife”.

     His attorney then told the Pittsburgh reporter that, “I would say based on his cooperation so far, I see a young man who is a victim in his own way from (past) experiences, who just wants to put this behind him. So I don’t see any reason why he would stop cooperating.”

     Here are a few observations after reading this article. First, I see that this man admits that he did these acts. However, I do not see where he ever accepts responsibility. His blame never points inward. Second, his admission that something might have happened ”accidentally” builds on that thought. Third, I am not sure how he thinks that he is simply going to put this behind him. Finally, I wonder how old his attorney must be,  if he is calling his 45 year-old client a “young man”.

    After this type of blog topic, I didn’t think Pic O’ would be appropriate.

Please click the Facebook “Share” button below this post to let others know you enjoyed reading it. Thanks!