Earlier this year, there were explosive revelations about the federal government’s role in maintaining and operating a child pornography server on the “dark web” as part of an FBI sting operation.
Supporters of the actions will likely say that the ends justify the means when it comes to keeping predators away from our children, but this misses the point and is not true. Nobody is above the law, even the FBI.
And, just like casting a wide net can result in the catch of unintended aquatic species, casting too wide a net during a pornography sting can catch innocent people who have no idea their lives are about to be ruined.
According to Motherboard, a number of defendants has already pleaded guilty to child pornography charges, but one of the defendants is aggressively fighting back. Their lawyer is arguing that the case should be thrown out due to the FBI’s distribution of illegal material.
We agree.
Distributing illegal material in order to create “criminals” and then arresting them is not law enforcement’s role. They should be devoting their resources to breaking up real child pornography rings, not sweeping up people from all walks of life in their sting operations.
If you find yourself on the wrong end of a sting operation, you can turn to the experienced defense team at O’Brien Hatfield, P.A. to protect your rights.
