![]() The affidavit provides further detail on how Bates was investigated. "The affidavit is not clear whether the mere act of tracking packages addressed to different cities was sufficient to trigger the investigation or whether other factors, such as foreign return address, came into play." You’ve got mail from China "The Dowd affidavit is very clear that Postal Inspectors discovered a connection between packages delivered to Florida and Massachusetts before initiating contact and obtaining consent to search the Florida package," Ghappour said. "It seems that the investigation was triggered by a system that mines Track N’ Confirm user-data in order to detect suspicious activity." Advertisement Neither the United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) nor Bates’ attorneys responded to Ars’ multiple requests for comment.Īhmed Ghappour, a law professor at the University of California, Hastings, told Ars that he has never seen a case like this before. "What’s most bizarre about this case is the tip-off by algorithm," he said. ![]() Once they located Bates’ IP address, they may have checked to see if it had been used to search for other packages.īut in the affidavit, United States Postal inspector Stephen Dowd seems to imply that this link happened in a more automated fashion.Īs he wrote, "The USPS database reflected that an individual using a computer or other device with IP address 75.67.6.214 accessed the USPS Track 'n Confirm website to track the progress of both the Florida Parcel and Bates Parcel #1." That statement could suggest that investigators found the suspicious package first and then manually checked IP logs to see if anyone had been searching for tracking information. The judge’s memorandum and order explains that postal investigators found 500 grams of a substance that turned out to be methylone in a package to be delivered in Hollywood, Florida. Last month, the judge in the case ruled against Bates in his attempt to supress evidence seized in those packages. The affidavit was added to the court docket in January 2015, and the case was first reported by Motherboard.īates was charged back in March 2014 with conspiracy to import methylone (also known as "molly"), importation of methylone, and possession with intent to distribute methylone, among other crimes. Boston Public Library reader comments 94 withĪ federal drug case in Massachusetts has shed new light on how the United States Postal Service’s (USPS) law enforcement unit uses something as simple as IP logs on the postal tracking website to investigate crimes.Īccording to a December 2013 affidavit of an ongoing federal criminal case in Rockland, Massachusetts, one alleged drug dealer named Harold Bates was found out simply by the digital trail he left on the USPS' Track n’ Confirm website.
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