People v. Ziemba
| Decision Date | 23 March 2018 |
| Docket Number | No. 2–17–0048,2–17–0048 |
| Citation | 100 N.E.3d 635,2018 IL App (2d) 170048 |
| Parties | The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff–Appellee, v. Eric F. ZIEMBA, Defendant–Appellant. |
| Court | United States Appellate Court of Illinois |
Rachel J. Hess, of St. Charles, for appellant.
Joseph H. McMahon, State’s Attorney, of St. Charles (Patrick Delfino, Lawrence M. Bauer, and Steven A. Rodgers, of State’s Attorneys Appellate Prosecutor’s Office, of counsel), for the People.
¶ 1 Following a bench trial, defendant, Eric F. Ziemba, was found guilty of involuntary sexual servitude of a minor ( 720 ILCS 5/10–9(c)(2) (West 2014) ), traveling to meet a minor (id. § 11–26(a) ), and grooming (id. § 11–25(a) ). On appeal, defendant contends that (1) the evidence was insufficient to prove him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of involuntary sexual servitude of a minor and (2) the trial court erroneously admitted certain text messages into evidence. We affirm.
¶ 3 On December 2, 2014, the following advertisement was placed online by an officer from the Aurora Police Department as part of an undercover sting operation conducted with the assistance of special agents from the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS):
¶ 4 Defendant responded to the advertisement via text message, unaware that he was communicating with Sergeant Alfredo Dean of the Aurora Police Department. The following is the text exchange that occurred between defendant and Dean:
¶ 5 Defendant entered the hotel room and encountered Melissa Siffermann, a special agent with DHS, who was posing as the mother offering her two daughters for sex. Defendant paid her $150 and was thereafter arrested.
¶ 6 On January 28, 2015, defendant was indicted on one count of involuntary sexual servitude of a minor (id. § 10–9(c)(2) ), one count of traveling to meet a minor (id. § 11–26(a) ), and one count of grooming (id. § 11–25(a) ).
¶ 7 Defendant moved to dismiss count I of the indictment, based on the absence of an actual minor. The trial court denied the motion, stating that the issue was to be determined by the trier of fact.
¶ 8 A bench trial commenced on October 17, 2016, at which the following relevant testimony was provided. Geoffrey Howard, a special agent with DHS, testified that DHS entered into a partnership with the Aurora Police Department to target individuals involved in the sex trafficking of children. On December 2, 2014, they were conducting an operation out of two adjoining rooms in an Aurora hotel. One of the rooms was used as the meeting room for the target and the undercover officer. The other room was considered the control room, where several officers would correspond via text messages with individuals responding to the online ad. Two surveillance cameras had been set up; one camera recorded the hallway outside of the meeting room, and the other camera recorded the inside of the meeting room. Video monitors for the cameras were located in the control room.
¶ 9 Howard testified that, on the day in question, the ad was posted on an escort service webpage called "Backpage.com." Howard testified that the officers used a computer program called "LETS,"1 which allowed them to respond to incoming texts via computer rather than phone. The program allowed more than one officer to respond to more than one individual using the number placed in the online ad. The program created a record of the incoming and outgoing messages.
¶ 10 Erik Swastek, an officer with the Aurora Police Department, testified that he was the lead investigator in the operation. He prepared the ad that was placed on Backpage.com. He stated that, if an ad included an age younger than 18, the ad would not post. However, he learned from known prostitutes that people trying to find juveniles on Backpage.com looked for people posting as 18–year–olds. Swastek testified that the phone number used was a "spoof number." When someone responded to the ad, the text message would go to a computer in the control room. Swastek would then assign the number to an officer who would then be responsible for communicating with that person. On December 2, 2014, there were four or five "texters" working in the control room. At 12:31 p.m. on December 2, 2014, a text was received in response to the ad. The text was assigned to Dean.
¶ 11 Swastek testified that the text message conversations were preserved on a server through the LETS system. The conversations could be downloaded and printed. There was no way for anyone to change or manipulate conversations on the server. Swastek identified People's exhibit No. 2 as the printout of the text conversation with defendant from the LETS program.
¶ 12 Swastek testified further that, after defendant was arrested, he took defendant's phone and placed it in a bag. He confirmed that the phone was the one used to send the text messages in response to the ad. On December 14, 2014, Swastek hooked the phone up to a Cellebrite Touch Universal Forensic Extraction Device (Cellebrite) and extracted all the data on the phone. Swastek explained that a Cellebrite downloads a...
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State v. Manuel T.
...messages he received was author's phone number and that he exchanged several text messages with author); People v. Ziemba , 421 Ill.Dec. 618, 100 N.E.3d 635, 648 (Ill. App. 2018) (finding that text messages were authenticated by "the undercover officer who personally sent and received the t......
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West Virginia v. Benny W.
...(finding text message authenticated because "there was first-hand corroborating testimony from ... [the] recipient"); People v. Ziemba, 100 N.E.3d 635, 648 (Ill.App. 2018) (finding text messages authenticated by "undercover officer who personally sent and received the text messages containe......
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State v. Benny W.
...text message authenticated because "there was first-hand corroborating testimony from ... [the] recipient"); People v. Ziemba , 421 Ill.Dec. 618, 100 N.E.3d 635, 648 (2018) (finding text messages authenticated by "undercover officer who personally sent and received the text messages contain......
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State v. Manuel T.
... ... phone number and that he exchanged several text messages with ... author); People v. Ziemba , 100 N.E.3d 635, ... 648 (Ill.App. 2018) (finding that text messages were ... authenticated by ‘‘the undercover officer ... ...