That kind of tough sentencing will definitely keep him from downloading more child rape videos and bringing them into America. Thanks for dispensing justice Vermont:
BURLINGTON, Vt. – A child pornography suspect who initially refused to give up his computer password so police could search his laptop was sentenced Friday to three years in prison and deported.
Sebastien D. Boucher, 33, was also ordered to submit to five years of supervised release for his conviction on one count of possession of child pornography transported in interstate or foreign commerce.
Entering the United States from Canada in 2006, Boucher — a Canadian citizen with U.S. residency — was stopped Dec. 17, 2006, at the Derby Line, Vt., checkpoint and asked to show his laptop to an agent.
He waived his Miranda rights and told agents he downloads pornography from news groups and that he sometimes unknowingly acquires images that contain child pornography. But he said he deletes the images when he realizes it.
The border agent saw files “Two year old being raped during diaper change” and “pre teen bondage,” and the computer was seized. But when an when an investigator later tried to access a particular drive, he couldn’t because of password-protected encryption software.
But here’s where it gets even more maddening:
A grand jury subpoenaed Boucher to reveal the password, but a magistrate later said he didn’t have to, since it would have the effect of giving prosecutors the key to get evidence against him.
On Sept. 25, Boucher pleaded guilty and agreed to surrender the password, on condition that what investigators found couldn’t be used against him at sentencing.
According to U.S. Attorney Tristram Coffin, Boucher had a constitutional right not to surrender the password.
Prosecutors already had enough evidence to convict Boucher, but they wanted to examine the contents of the computer’s “Z drive” to see if other crimes had been committed, according to Coffin.
Under the plea, if the government found evidence that he’d produced child pornography, that evidence could be used against him.
So Canadians have the same Constitutional rights as Americans? Then why aren’t we allowing them to buy firearms here as guaranteed by the Second Amendment? It’s interesting how lefties always think foreign nationals have “Constitutional rights” when it would mean protecting a pervert or Al-Qaeda operative but not Canadians or Mexicans who want to protect their family or go hunting. Weird.
But there was a happy ending here. Boucher rolled on some other people and finally gave up the password. Guess what was on his laptop:
When Boucher finally gave up the password Oct. 19, investigators found 2,000 still images and 118 video files depicting prepubescent children being sexually assaulted by adults, according to Michael Touchette, a computer forensics analyst for the Vermont Department of Corrections who testified Friday at the sentencing.
Unfortunately they couldn’t find evidence of who produced the porn or if even that particular computer was involved. So Boucher gets out on good behavior within a year and returns to Canada to partake in more child pornography. But we can rest easy knowing the Constitutional rights afforded Americans extend to Canadians as long as they aren’t buying a gun.
h/t Trench
Vermont has had a problem with judges giving very lenient sentences in child
molestation cases. The problem was in the local papers when I lived there.
What Vermont is remains a mystery. There are the locals who have lived there for generations who are similar to mainstream conservatives but with a distinctly libertarian streak. There are the off the map people who live in Franklin County and are mainly transplants from elsewhere mostly NYC and MA. Unfortunately, the latter is very well organized and we seldom saw the old timers in office.
I can say with certainty when Bernie Sanders loses his temper his NYC accent is pronounced. I pretended to mistake him for Col Sanders and said his biscuits were the only good thing about his record.He obviously has no sense of humor.
::Mental Note: Keep children out of Vermont.::