United States v. Glatz

1

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff, v. GLENN FRED GLATZ, Defendant.

No. 3:19-CR-218-TAV-DCP

United States District Court, E.D. Tennessee, Knoxville

May 1, 2023

REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION

Debra C. Poplin United States Magistrate Judge

This case is before the undersigned for report and recommendation on Defendant Glenn Glatz's Motion to Suppress All Evidence Obtained by May 3, 2018 Jefferson County Search Warrant, a June 6, 2018 Federal Search Warrant, and a November 2019 Federal Search Warrant [Doc. 20], Motion for a “Franks” Hearing [Doc. 34], and pro se motion relating to irregularities with the November 2019 search warrant [Doc. 99 pp. 4-6]. See 28 U.S.C. § 636(b). Defendant asks the Court to suppress all evidence obtained from three searches of his cellular telephone and S.D. card pursuant to a May 3, 2018 state search warrant (“state search warrant”); a June 6, 2018 federal search warrant (“first federal search warrant”) and a November 19, 2019 federal search warrant (“second federal search warrant”). Defendant argues that the searches of his cellular phone and S.D. card pursuant to these warrants violated the Fourth Amendment because the affidavits supporting all three search warrants fail to provide probable cause for their issuance. Defendant also requests an evidentiary hearing to challenge statements in the three affidavits supporting the search warrants, arguing the affidavits contain false statements and omissions that are material to probable cause. Defendant asserts that the three search warrants fail to allege the items to be seized with particularity. He challenges the execution of the state search warrant, which he contends did not permit the search of his S.D. card, and the second federal search warrant which he asserts was unduly delayed. Finally, Defendant contends the second federal search warrant was never signed by the issuing judge.

For the reasons discussed below, the Court finds that the supporting affidavits provide probable cause for the issuance of the two federal search warrants and that although the state search warrant is lacking in a sufficient nexus, the executing officers acted in good faith. The Court also finds that Defendant fails to establish that the affidavits contain material false statements or omissions requiring a Franks hearing and that all three search warrants are sufficiently particular. The Court finds that the state search warrant permitted the search of the S.D. card contained within the cellphone, and that the execution of the second federal search warrant was timely. Finally, the Court finds that the second federal search warrant was signed and issued and that its delayed return does not require suppression of the evidence obtained in the search. Accordingly, the Court respectfully recommends that Defendant's motions to suppress evidence and for a Franks hearing [Docs. 20, 34, and 99] be DENIED.

I. BACKGROUND

Defendant is charged [Doc. 1] with four counts of inducing a minor to engage in sexually explicit conduct to produce child pornography (Counts 1, 4, 6, & 8), one count of receiving child pornography (Count 2), three counts of transfer of obscene materials to a minor (Counts 3, 5, & 7), and one count of possession of child pornography (Count 9). These charges are alleged to have occurred between December 2015 through May 2, 2018. Count 1 relates to minor A.A., and Counts 3 through 6 and Count 8 relate to minor F.R. Counts 3, 5, and 7 relate to a minor under age sixteen, and Count 9 relates to a minor under age twelve. These charges all arise from the data extracted from Defendant's cellular telephone and S.D. card, which were seized on May 2, 2018, by the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office (“JCSO”).

On May 2, 2018, JCSO Detectives Richard Collins and Pamela Taylor interviewed Defendant Glatz at the Jefferson County Justice Center and seized his cellular telephone, which contained a 16-gigabyte micro-SD card.^[1] The following day, May 3, 2018, Detective Taylor applied for and received a search warrant for Defendant's LG cellphone and “16 gigabyte sim card” [Doc. 20-1 p. 1].^[2]

In her supporting affidavit, Detective Taylor alleges the following as probable cause to search Defendant's cellphone and “sim card” for evidence of solicitation of a minor and violation of the sex offender registration law: On April 28, 2018, law enforcement received a complaint from Samantha Taveras, a user of the DeviantArt website, who reported that Glenn Glatz, a registered sex offender, was using the username Tennesseetomcat on DeviantArt and was “chatting and ‘role-playing'” with a thirteen-year-old girl, who used the username Nolifelady [Id. at 2]. Detective Taylor also stated that Glatz was sending “inappropriate” photographs of himself and asking the minor to send photographs of herself to him [Id.]. Detective Taylor alleged that Glatz failed to report using the Tennesseetomcat username on the DeviantArt website [Id.]. Detective Taylor stated that “Mr. Glatz was interviewed on 5/2/18 and did admit to using the username, Tennesseetomcat and also chatting with the minor child and requesting a photograph” [Id.]. Detective Taylor stated that based upon this evidence and her knowledge, training, and experience, she believes Glatz's cellphone will contain text messages, photographs, unreported website usage, and unreported usernames, all “depicting illegal activity,” namely solicitation of a minor in violation of Tennessee Code Annotated § 39-13-528 and violation of the Tennessee sex offender registration laws at § 40-39-208 [Id. at 4]. A judge issued the search warrant on May 3, 2018 [Id. at 1].

According to Detective Richard Collins, who testified at the April 14, 2021 evidentiary hearing in this case, Glatz's cellphone was submitted to Detective Michael Stallings, forensic examiner, for a Cellebrite analysis [Doc. 44, Transcript, p. 66]. Detective Collins testified that the execution of the May 3, 2018 search warrant resulted in the seizure of child pornography [Id. at 40].

On June 6, 2018, Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”) Special Agent Bianca Pearson (“SA Pearson”) sought and obtained a federal search warrant for the contents of Defendant's LG cellular phone and S.D. card “previously installed inside the cellular telephone” [Doc. 35-1, p. 1].^[3]The warrant permits the search of the cellphone and S.D. card for “visual depictions . . . of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct,” child erotica, passwords and security devices, and evidence of who was using the cellphone at the time the aforementioned items were created, all of which constitute evidence of violations of the receipt and possession of child pornography in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2252A and enticement of minors to engage in sexual activity in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2422(b) [Id. at 5 (Attachment B)].

In her affidavit in support of the June 6, 2018 search warrant, SA Pearson states that she met with JCSO Detective Richard Collins on May 23, 2018, and learned that based on a May 2, 2018 interview of Glatz, he was arrested for violation of the Tennessee Sex Offender Registration law for failing to report “a chat application and email address” on the registry [Doc. 35-1 ¶17]. The affidavit relates that in May 2018, Detective Michael Stallings of the Jefferson City Police Department examined Glatz's cellphone and S.D. card pursuant to a May 2018 search warrant issued by Jefferson County Circuit Court Judge Duane Slone [Id. at ¶18]. Detective Stallings was not able to search the cellphone's memory, which was “pass code encrypted,” but he searched the S.D. card and seized images of a nude minor female [Id. at ¶¶18-19]. The affidavit describes four of the images seized from the S.D. card, stating three images were focused on the minor's face and naked breasts and one on her naked vagina [Id. at ¶19]. The words “Glenny's Bitch” are superimposed over and just above image of the minor's vagina [Id.].

SA Pearson's affidavit states the S.D. card also contained an image of three SIM cards and one S.D. card taped to a note from “Mindy” asking “Rainna” to forward the attached SIM and S.D. cards to another female [Id. at ¶21]. In the same image with the note is an envelope addressed to Rainna Nelson in Alaska with a return address to Mindy Parks in Dandridge, Tennessee [Id.]. The affidavit relates that Postal Inspector John Wallace Bowden believes that the parties mentioned in the note and on the envelope “are attempting to hide their true identity by using fictitious names in order to exchange digital storage media” [Id. at ¶21]. SA Pearson states that based upon her “training, experience, and discussions with FBI computer forensic examiners, the FBI has the capability to examine the internal memory of the device by bypassing the pass-code lock features of this phone” [Id. at ¶22]. Finally, the affidavit states that Glatz was arrested for child molestation and sentenced to twenty years of incarceration “on May 24, 2005” [Id. at ¶23] and was indicted in Sevier County, Tennessee, on September 11, 2017, for possessing items in an attempt to lure a minor to engage in sexual activity, violation of the sex offender registry, and contributing to the delinquency of a minor [Id. at ¶16]. The affidavit relates that Defendant's S.D. card also contained photographs of the clothed minor involved in the Sevier County charges while she was inside Defendant's camper [Id. at ¶20].

On November 19, 2019, FBI Special Agent Kristina L. Norris (“SA Norris”) sought and obtained a federal search warrant for four Blu-ray discs containing the extracted data from the Defendant's cellphone and S.D card [Doc. 102-1 pp. 1-5].^[4] The search warrant permits the search of four Blu-ray discs, containing the extractions from Defend...