By: Derek Hawkins//December 3, 2018//
7th Circuit Court of Appeals
Case Name: United States of America v. Edmund J. Brixen
Case No.: 18-1636
Officials: BAUER, EASTERBROOK, and SCUDDER, Circuit Judges.
Focus: Motion to Suppress Evidence Denied
An individual with the Snapchat username “Snappyschrader” held himself out to be a thirty one-year-old male and agreed to assist a 14-year-old female in purchasing undergarments. Unbeknownst to him, he was communicating with Detective Baumgarten of the City of Altoona Police Department. After agreeing to meet at a supermarket, law enforcement officers identified “Snappyschrader,” arrested him, and seized his phone. The man they arrested was Edmund Brixen. To illustrate to Brixen that he had been communicating with an undercover detective, Baumgarten sent a message to Brixen’s phone from the undercover Snapchat account and Brixen witnessed the notification appear on his phone screen. Brixen moved to suppress this evidence arguing it constituted an unreasonable search of his cell phone. The district court denied the motion on the grounds that Detective Baumgarten’s actions did not constitute a search under the Fourth Amendment. Brixen timely appealed. For the reasons set forth herein, we affirm.
Affirmed