CA11: Failure to include finding IP address to defendant’s link to CP not fatal to warrant

The government’s failure to provide a link between an IP address to defendant’s alleged access to child pornography, otherwise sufficiently shown for probable cause under Gates, was enough for the warrant to at least satisfy the good faith exception. United States v. Vanbrackle, 397 Fed. Appx. 557 (11th Cir. 2010):

We agree with the district court that the good faith exception to the exclusionary rule applies to the affidavit underlying the search warrant of Vanbrackle’s residence. First, the affidavit was not “so lacking in indicia of probable cause as to render official belief in its existence entirely unreasonable.” See Martin, 297 F.3d at 1313. To the contrary, it was reasonable for Agents Blackwell and Witrick to believe that the information contained in the affidavit was sufficient to support a finding of probable cause that evidence of the unlawful receipt of child pornography would be found at Vanbrackle’s residence. The facts alleged within the search warrant affidavit indicate that (1) screen names registered to Vanbrackle at 253A Little River Lane, Rabun Gap, Georgia, were implicated in four other cases involving the transmission or solicitation of child pornography over the internet; (2) Vanbrackle continued to reside at 253A Little River Lane, Rabun Gap, Georgia; (3) Vanbrackle was believed to be a collector of child pornography based on his activities of sending and receiving child pornography and requests to exchange pictures of skimpily dressed children with other AOL users; and (4) the tendency of collectors of child pornography, such as Vanbrackle, was to retain and store images of child pornography on their computers. Further, at the suppression hearing, Jim Persinger, a computer forensic cybercrimes specialist, testified that people who collect child pornography do not normally download child pornography at a public place, but typically view it at their residence or place of employment.

While Vanbrackle argues that this evidence failed to establish that unlawful e-mail transmissions were sent or received by him at his residence, he provides no legal citation to support his contention that IP address information is required to establish a link between an individual’s electronic transmission of child pornography and that same individual’s personal residence. … Although IP address information could have definitively shown that a computer used at Vanbrackle’s home received the images in question, …, Agent Blackwell was only obligated to provide enough facts to show a fair probability that evidence of a crime would be found at Vanbrackle’s residence. Illinois v. Gates, 462 U.S. 213, 235, 103 S. Ct. 2317, 2330, 76 L. Ed. 2d 527 (1983) (stating that “only the probability, not a prima facie showing, of criminal activity is the standard of probable cause (quotation omitted)). Agent Blackwell satisfied this obligation ….