## Facts

- Federal and state agents investigated Robert Stabile for counterfeit checks and related bank fraud at the New Jersey home he shared with Debbie Deetz.
- Deetz, a co-occupant who believed she was Stabile’s wife, admitted agents, signed written consent to search, led them through the home, and identified computers and multiple loose hard drives.
- Agents found check stock, check-writing software, photocopies of checks, and fraudulent checks near a computer and seized six hard drives during the consent search.
- Stabile returned home during the search and attempted to revoke consent, but the seizure had already occurred.
- A state detective later obtained a state warrant to forensically examine the drives for financial-crime evidence; while executing that warrant, the detective encountered a folder and file names suggestive of child pornography, opened several video files, and confirmed they were child pornography.
- Federal agents then obtained federal warrants to search the drives for child pornography, relying in part on the detective’s discovery during the state warranted search.
- Stabile moved to suppress the hard-drive evidence, arguing lack of valid third-party consent, overbroad seizure, and that the forensic review became an unlawful general search when it produced child-pornography evidence.
- The district court denied suppression, Stabile pleaded guilty to bank fraud, proceeded to a bench trial on child-pornography counts, was convicted on four counts, and received concurrent 78-month sentences.

## Issues

1. Whether Deetz had actual or apparent authority to consent to the search of the shared residence and the seizure of the hard drives.
2. Whether seizing six hard drives exceeded the scope of Deetz’s consent or violated the Fourth Amendment.
3. Whether opening files during a warranted search for financial-crime evidence, leading to discovery of child pornography, exceeded the warrant’s scope or constituted an impermissible general search.
4. Whether the child-pornography evidence was nonetheless admissible under plain view, independent source, or inevitable discovery.
5. Whether the concurrent 78-month sentence was procedurally or substantively unreasonable (and/or barred by an appellate waiver).

## Decision

- The Third Circuit affirmed the denial of Stabile’s suppression motions and affirmed the convictions.
- The court held Deetz had at least apparent authority to consent, and officers reasonably relied on her consent to search the home and seize the hard drives.
- The court held the seizure of all six drives was within the scope of consent and reasonable given their connection to suspected financial fraud.
- The court held the detective’s viewing of child-pornography files during the lawful execution of a warrant for financial evidence did not violate the Fourth Amendment; the contraband was admissible under plain view.
- The court also upheld admission under independent-source and/or inevitable-discovery reasoning because subsequent federal warrants provided a lawful basis to search for child pornography.
- The court affirmed the concurrent 78-month sentence as reasonable.

## Legal Principles

- A co-occupant’s consent supports a warrantless search when the consenting party has actual common authority or officers reasonably believe the party has authority (apparent authority).
- A later objection by another occupant does not retroactively invalidate a search or seizure already completed pursuant to valid third-party consent.
- In computer searches, officers executing a valid warrant may examine files and folders as reasonably necessary to locate items described in the warrant; reasonableness depends on circumstances rather than rigid, mandatory search protocols.
- Under the plain-view doctrine, when officers are lawfully searching within the scope of a warrant, they may seize evidence of a different crime if its incriminating nature is immediately apparent upon lawful access.
- Evidence is not suppressed when it is obtained through an independent lawful warrant-based search, or when it would inevitably have been discovered through lawful investigative steps.

## Conclusion

The Third Circuit upheld the consent-based seizure of multiple hard drives and the later forensic searches, concluding that child pornography discovered while lawfully searching for financial-fraud evidence was admissible under plain view and, independently, under later federal warrants and inevitable-discovery/independent-source doctrines; it also affirmed Stabile’s concurrent 78-month sentence.


United States v. Stabile, 633 F.3d 219 (3d Cir. 2011)