Unfair Justice

[komodo]

This is scary.. Here is the executive summary:

Guy loses credit card and is victim of identity theft. Credit card is used by sellers of child porn. Feds try to bust child porn ring and trace credit card to the original owner. Feds raid his home and confiscate his business computers and basically trash them. Guy's business goes bankrupt and is out of luck - apparently can't sue the feds.

http://www.nj.com/search/index.ssf?/...er?ntop&coll=1

In June 2000, customs agents learned about a Web site that was being used to display child pornography. A trace of the credit card used to pay the site's subscription fee led the agents to Richard Hallock's home in the village of Mohawk, 70 miles west of Albany.

What the agents didn't know was that Hallock had been the victim of identity theft only a few months before. His business credit card had been stolen and was used to set up the Web site.

The agents seized computers, software design files, software programming codes, client files and other material -- all of which belonged to Ferncliff Associates, a computer software company owned by Hallock's wife, Susan, through which Richard Hallock developed and sold software.

Several months later, the investigation was closed and no charges were brought against Richard Hallock. When the Hallocks' computers were returned, the equipment was damaged beyond repair and they were forced to close Ferncliff Associates.

[DEATH2000]

That sucks for him. I think they shoulda known about the identity theft before they raided his house.

[TerryY]

At least they didn't plant anything on the computers to prove that they were right to suspect him.

He should be happy that it wasn't the LAPD