How Much Freedom Do You Get When You Are Out on Bail?
Things can easily go from bad to worse at a traffic stop. One minute you are taking in the familiar comforts of South Florida road rage, and the next minute, a police officer has pulled you over and is making all kinds of excuses that innocent things in your car or in your past are probable cause for your arrest. That empty Sprite bottle? Everyone knows it’s a mixer for lean. The Dairy Queen spoon? It must be drug paraphernalia, never mind the ice cream residue. K9 Rosie thinks you smell like bad news, and K9 Roxie agrees, never mind that they learned these views from human cops in the K9 police academy. No one is better at assuming the worst about you than cops, with the possible exception of the Internet. How many people who never intended to be public figures have become persona non grata after some trolls with nothing better to do in life than ruin people’s reputations reposted an offhanded comment that the unassuming person posted on social media, assuming that no one would see it except his or her friends who understood the original context? It turns out that Internet activities that you assume that no one sees but you can get you in plenty of trouble, too. Who knew that a traffic stop could lead to an arrest for sending emails to yourself? Here, our Miami sex crimes defense attorney explains how a South Florida physician received criminal charges because of emails he sent to himself, and how he has already faced consequences that do not require him to be found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
Everyone Is a Snitch Online
In the 1980s, when crack cocaine was the scariest drug the news media could think of, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children communicated with the public through images on milk cartons of children believed to be in danger. Today, the Center receives most of its tips not from people who match children that they see in person to faces they recognize from milk cartons, but rather from online content moderators who witness the transmission of images and videos of sexual abuse of minors. In August 2024, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received such a tip from Yahoo; the moderator said that a user had emailed over 100 images of child abuse content to himself at his Yahoo email address. Yahoo email has been around since the days of “never use your real name online,” but this user’s email signature bore his name, as well as the abbreviation for his professional title, namely M.D. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children notified police in Broward County, where the doctor works, and they pulled him over one day in September and confronted him about the emails.
Is It Freedom When You Have No Money, No Job, and No Internet Access?
As of four days after the original traffic stop the defendant remains in the Broward County jail. He is facing 11 felony counts, and his bail has been set at $100,000. He is in a better position than most to pay his bail, with or without going through a bail bond company, since he is a physician who treats patients in the hospital. If he posts his bail money, he will be able to go home, but he will not be allowed to use the Internet or to have any contact with minors.
Neither this defendant nor any other can receive criminal penalties unless and until he pleads guilty or a jury unanimously finds him guilty at trial. Employers, however, are not bound to the same standards of due process; they have the right to take adverse actions against an employee simply because the employee is facing criminal charges. At least one hospital where the defendant works has suspended his privileges to treat patients at that hospital.
Can There Be Reasonable Doubt When Your Name Is in the Email Signature?
The Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution protects defendants against being coerced into confessing to crimes. The defendant in this case, like every other, has the right to plead not guilty and to present defenses at trial. He may be able to argue that he was not the one using his email account; this defense will be more convincing if he deleted the emails quickly and did not save their contents to his devices.
Contact Our Criminal Defense Attorneys
A South Florida criminal defense lawyer can help you if you are facing charges for Internet crimes. Contact Ratzan & Faccidomo in Miami, Florida for a confidential consultation about your case.
Source:
legalherald.com/pompano-beach-fl-south-florida-physician-dr-david-rerko-faces-11-felony-charges-for-child-pornography/
