Digital evidence provides investigators with vital insights into a case and law enforcement agencies like the Marion County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) in Florida understand maintaining close collaboration with all parties involved is essential to accelerating investigations. Its growing lab has digital forensics tools and solutions to handle large amounts of evidence and the team values proper training and effective communication to successfully close cases.
Growing the Digital Forensics Lab
Leading the Marion County Sheriff’s Office digital forensics lab is Jesse Newbanks, Senior Digital Forensics Technician. He got the lab up and running in 2017, and a second examiner joined in 2022 and the team is still growing, helping with a range of crimes from homicides to crimes against children. Newbanks followed an unconventional path into digital forensics, starting at a software company before working in the sheriff’s office IT department. When approached to be a full-time digital forensics examiner in 2017, he fully embraced the opportunity as he always wanted to be a police officer and knew he could do some good behind the keyboard.
The MCSO lab utilizes an array of digital forensics solutions, including Cellebrite Premium and Physical Analyzer (now part of Cellebrite Inseyets), to handle a couple hundred extractions a year with a mix of Android, iOS and the occasional burner phones.
Triaging Devices in the Field
Newbanks and his team succeeded in reducing their backlog by triaging devices in the field. He said, “We designed a mobile digital forensics lab. Our search teams find the stuff and bring it out to us, and we spend more time on scene triaging the devices down. At the end of the day, we can say we went through 33 devices on scene, but only three of them actually contained contraband materials we can take back.”
In the long run, the mobile lab can save the team a lot of time. Newbanks elaborated that “it means we’re not having to bring 300 plus, 30 plus devices back to the office to work on those for the next couple of weeks.”
A mobile lab also means innocent household members can have their devices back sooner rather than later, minimizing disruptions in their daily lives.
Missing Wife Homicide
In 2018 digital forensics proved to be the key piece of evidence when a man called the sheriff’s office to report that his pregnant wife had been missing for more than a week, leaving behind her personal items. He cooperated in an interview with the detectives and even submitted his phone for extraction and analysis.
The digital forensics lab processed his phone on Physical Analyzer (now Cellebrite Inseyets) and found that the man had taken and deleted pictures, raising suspicions. They recovered the photos, which turned out to be crime scene photos of his missing wife who was shot twice. That evidence helped them obtain a search warrant for the suspect’s house.
During the house search, detectives found evidence of a firearm and ammunition, as well as blood splatter that appeared to be partially cleaned up. Based on the photos found on his phone, forensic evidence and past history, the MCSO arrested the suspect for second-degree murder of his wife and unborn child.
“We designed a mobile digital forensics lab. Our search teams find the stuff and bring it out to us, and we spend more time on scene triaging the devices down. At the end of the day, we can say we went through 33 devices on scene, but only three of them actually contained contraband materials we can take back”
Newbanks recalled the power of digital evidence in connecting the dots and presenting what really happened in court, saying that “the 14 photos showed really the kind of mind behind the guy that took those photos at the time, and the fact that we never had her body, it told quite the story.” The husband is now serving a life sentence for the death of his wife and her unborn child.
Catching Child Predators
As a North Florida ICAC Task Force member, MCSO regularly works with other agencies to combat crimes against children. In July, 2024, MCSO, with assistance from the Ocala Police Department, Chiefland Police Department and the Department of Homeland Security, concluded an online sting operation, arresting 33 child predators. During the operation, law enforcement officers posed as children online. The officers were contacted by multiple men who started sexually explicit conversations seeking to engage in sexual activity with children who they thought were between 13 and 15 years old. Many of the men arranged to meet with the children they contacted, with some traveling from outside Florida. Investigators seized at least 33 phones and 12 of them are part of federal prosecutions. “We’ve been working with Homeland to secure the federal warrants for all those [phones], so we’ve been working nonstop.” Newbanks added. Newsbanks and his team’s work played a crucial role in multiple investigations that locked up dangerous child predators including Joeseph Giampa who is serving life in prison for raping a child and a Fort McCoy man who is serving 80 years in prison for impersonating a federal agent to receive and produce child sex abuse materials (CSAM).
Collaboration is Key
“There’s a lot of back and forth with our examiners and our detectives.” Explaining how close collaboration helps a case, Newbanks added, “If you (investigator) work with us and you say, this is what’s going on, this is what we’re looking for, we can correlate all thosee data between the multiple phones and devices and start painting that picture for them so that they now have intel to start working off of.”
Outside of ICAC, the MCSO is a member of the Secret Service Cyber Fraud Task Force. As part of the partnership, MCSO personnel received training and resources to further their knowledge and skills. Newbanks and his team also assist the Secret Service when it requires help with cases in Marion County.
Likewise, the Secret Service assists the MCSO with its digital investigations when needed. “Every now and then we run into a scenario or two where we just aren’t equipped to handle it, so I reach out to my guys at [the] Secret Service, and we make it work,” Newbanks explained.
“If you (investigator) work with us and you say, this is what’s going on, this is what we’re looking for, we can correlate all those data between the multiple phones and devices and start painting that picture for them so that they now have intel to start working off of”
Importance of Training
Having the right training and certification as a digital forensics examiner is vital when testifying in court. “Ultimately, it comes down to being able to say, ‘Is this guy credible?’” Newbanks said, “I’m a firm believer that there is no amount of training that is too much training. You know, we’re always going to be educating and furthering ourselves just because the field in which we’re in is constantly changing.”
To help new digital forensics examiners from local police departments, MCSO provides a three-month Field Training Officer program. It includes hands-on training, supervised case work and mock trials.
Newbanks explained, “We actually include prosecutors from our state attorney’s office acting both as prosecution and defense, and sometimes they can go full broadside on these guys to really test it. They are not going to crack under pressure on the stand, and that is a huge training resource for us.”
Speaking about the importance of certifications, Newbanks said, “Being able to actually have that piece of paper that says, I know what I’m doing: iireally carries a whole lot of weight when you’re on the stand testifying.”
Communication with Prosecutors
Examiners play a vital role in any case, from device extraction to how the case plays out in court. They provide digital evidence and help prosecutors paint a clearer picture of the case.
In helping prosecutors get their points across during a trial, Newbanks often strategizes with them and provides advice. “Here’s what we will talk about and how we can talk about it. We’ll formulate that strategy together so that when the day comes that we’re in front of the jury and judge, it’s all a really smooth process,” Newbanks said.
Digital evidence is becoming increasingly important in modern investigations. The Marion County Sheriff’s Office recognizes that harnessing digital forensics solutions in close collaboration between all parties in a case not only streamlines their workflow but also drives the case toward justice. Digital evidence can provide the key piece of the puzzle, yet it’s up to examiners, investigators and prosecutors to work together to ensure the digital evidence accelerates justice.
