A Port Moody youth suspected in a swatting incident in Las Vegas will get his laptop computer and cellphone back.
But a modem that was also seized by police as part of its investigation into the incident that occurred on Aug. 26, 2024, will remain in detention until Sept. 18, 2025.
In a ruling at B.C. Provincial Court in Port Coquitlam on March 11, Judge Robin McQuillan denied an application from the Port Moody Police Department to continue holding onto the HP laptop and Samsung smart phone as physical evidence even though the electronic data they contained already been extracted, copied and processed by a specialty technology company.
The devices were seized by PMPD during its investigation of phone calls made to two police detachments in the Las Vegas area stating two pipe bombs were set to explode in the bathroom of Foothill High School.
Authorities in Nevada, along with the RCMP Foreign Domestic Assistance Unit, used an IP address associated with the phone calls to trace them back to a Port Moody residence where the suspect lived with his mother.
According to court documents, the youth “was known as a prolific swatter.”
On Sept. 18, 2024, police executed a search warrant at the home and seized six items. The youth was arrested and released to the care of his mother.
A week later, PMPD received permission from a Justice of the Peace to hang onto the electronic devices until Dec. 17 and on Nov. 4 it was granted judicial authorization to search their data.
That process took longer than expected, and on Nov. 27 PMPD applied to extend its detention of the devices. The hearing was scheduled to occur Dec. 10, but was then adjourned to March 5, by which time the extrication of electronic data from the smart phone and laptop had been completed and the devices returned to PMPD. The tech company also said it was unable to provide a timeline for completing its processing of the modem.
In his ruling, McQuillan said Crown did not present adequate evidence to justify the continued detention of the laptop and smart phone.
“It does require some evidence so as not to become a rubber-stamp process,” said McQuillan, adding the ruling does not apply to the modem, which has yet to be processed for any evidence it might contain.
“While it would have been helpful to have an estimate how much more time will be required to have it processed, I am nonetheless satisfied that its continued detention is warranted.”
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