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Sheriff Morgan, Concerned About Child Porn, Seeks To Limit Access To Evidence In ‘Sex Ring’ Lawsuit
July 6, 2019
Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan was deposed Friday afternoon in a federal lawsuit claiming he had knowledge of a sex ring and attempted to influence an internal investigation. Citing concerns over child pornography, he also filed paperwork seeking to limit access to electronic devices belonging to suspects.
Friday, Morgan filed an answer to a request by the plaintiff to access cell phones and computers that were used in the 2015 prosecutions of Leah Manning, Doug Manning and former deputy Walter Thomas in a sex case. The phones are still held in evidence by the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office.
Morgan is being sued by the Manning’s twin adult daughters. They were involved as minors in sexual activities that led to the convictions of both Mannings and Thomas. The lawsuits allege Morgan “tolerated the sexual activities” with deputies and other ECSO employees “because of his friendship and personal relationship with mother (Leah Manning).” Morgan is denying all allegations against him.
Friday, Chief United States Magistrate Judge Elizabeth Timothy ordered attorneys for the plaintiffs and Morgan essentially to talk and work out an agreement by 5 p.m. Monday.
Morgan contends that the phones could contained child pornography not discovered in 2015.
“The same software used in 2015 to extract the data from the electronic devices in question is not the same system used today,” the court filing says. “Due to the nature of the cases involving the Plaintiffs and new software technology being used to extract data, there is a chance that reprocessing the electronic devices may reveal information that could contain child pornography. By using new extraction technology it could result in the unveiling of inappropriate images of minors through programs such as Kik and Snapchat used by the minor children. There is a prohibition under Florida law for the reproduction of child pornography.”
Morgan is asking the the evidence be reviewed at the Sheriff’s Office with conditions to avoid any potential violations of law concerning child pornography, and “since there is always a risk associated with potential loss of data when reviewing original devices in evidence” the State Attorney’s Office and defense counsel for Thomas be notified.
Morgan wants the phones be reprocessed by an Escambia County Sheriff’s Office employee in the presence of a witness for the plaintiff. The sheriff is also asking that no copies be made of any new downloads to avoid the potential transmission of child pornography.
Comments
43 Responses to “Sheriff Morgan, Concerned About Child Porn, Seeks To Limit Access To Evidence In ‘Sex Ring’ Lawsuit”
@ Sheriff’s Daughter. I agree with you 100 percent.
The corruption runs high
I, nor, any of the retired law enforcement officers I know, whether they are retired from a local, state, or federal law enforcement agency can understand why this case was not investigated by FDLE from the start. All this would most likely have been avoided if it was. What I found very compelling about the first news conference the sheriff held was his denials about knowing Leah Manning was the statement he made about the SAO investigating this case. Any LEO who has attended Interview and Interrogations training knows that if a suspect makes any false statement during their interview, you are to view the entire interview as false. Surely, Morgan would know that the warrant affidavits on Thomas and Smith were prepared by an ECSO SVU deputy and approved by an ECSO SVU Sgt. Additionally, any search warrants were prepared by the ECSO, not the SAO. This,along with the fact that Morgan now wants to control access to the evidence in possession of the ECSO begs the question, “Why?”.You draw your own conclusions.
Sounds like the state needs to investigate this department. I’ve heard some far out stories of what certain members of the sheriff’s were up to.
My guess is that the phones or any incriminating information on these phones is long gone. My prayers are for the adult twin daughters and the hell they are still living.
@Tabby, thank you! He most assuredly was!
Evidence handling lol, the deputy who got 30 years, guess where his daughter worked, yep ECSO and guess what department, yep evidence room , hmmmmmm.
@Sheriffs Daughter
I agree with you 100%. Jim was the best. And not just being a cop. He was a good man.
So very sad that the sheriff’s department my Daddy loved so much and gave so much of his life for has been led to this disgusting situation! I guess the days of being led by someone with integrity and transparency are long over. I pray that the next sheriff treats his deputies with respect and leads them with a caring heart and intelligent mind!
Citizens!
Deputies have been telling you for years that this administration was destroying the department, and good Deputies! Y’all kept voting this administration in office! This should be a lesson to us all, when employee’s of a politician tell you they are not worthy of the position, we as voter’s should listen!!!
I’m no expert on law enforcement investigations but if a deputy or anyone that works in the department of ESCO shouldn’t all the evidence be placed in a secure location other than a place where co workers/friends could get access to the crucial evidence? If this is a state investigation shouldn’t they have all the evidence? This makes absolutely no sense to me!
@Henry Coe, exactly right….also: too many bags of popcorn and CSI episodes involved!
Watch to see if he settles the lawsuit and how quickly. I think it’s pretty clear he wants this mess to go away as fast as possible before the whole story comes out.
i think i smell something rotten. the sheriff is writing his resignation letter.
On a CJ Blog called “I told you so”, there is a statement that Morgan said in a press conferences there were 100, 000 images and a f/b statement by Haines that there are 0 images.
Where are they? Or have they been destroyed already? Who is telling the truth?
So what does Chips have to say ’bout all this?
Sherrif Morgan seems very very nervous about his deposition and evidence, I’m going to sit back and watch what happens but I’m pretty sure from everything I’ve seen so far… he knew about the teenage girls involved with what his deputy and wife did ,, also he was supposed to have been with her at least 5 times in a hotel … the whole thing stinks
WHY in the Wide World are the “electronic evidence” items not under Lock and Key of the Chief United States Magistrate Judge Elizabeth Timothy????
To me, that would offer the best protection not only for the sensitive evidence but it would provide protections – Clear and Transparent – for both of the parties in this case.
Leaving the “electronic evidence” in the hands of the ESCO provides an implication of a situation ripe for tampering with important decision making property.
REALLY, the business about the sheriff wanting to “protect” against exposing others to Child Porn doesn’t hold water as it must have already been viewed in determining the Innocence or Guilt in the Manning case.
Please Protect the Evidence.
Not a lack of trust, simply a desire that Justice be Served.
@retireddeputy you are so right! This needs to be handed over to someone bigger in order to get this done properly!! Why does Morgan even have the evidence still when he’s being accused and their own deputies are too!? Very obvious how easily it would be to tamper with the evidence all this time it’s been in their possession and especially now.
So glad stuff like this is coming out in the open. I grew up there and there’s always been a real “we do whatever we want” attitude from the Sheriff’s department in Escambia county. Even more so under that crook McNesby. No, not all the deputies are or have been corrupt, but due to the actions of some, the amount of trust the community had for the Sheriff’s office (at least the 20 plus years I lived there) was low to say the least
Morgan is finally going to get what he and his administration have been giving to the men and women of the departmen for years now. Finally he will fieel what it’s like to have his name and reputation destroyed. I can’t wait to see him takeout all those who have followed his lead. I hope everyone that this man has destroyed smiles a little bigger today, because I have a big smile.
Morgan your the biggest fraud Escambia has ever seen.
Signed a Depury Sheriff you destroyed for no good reason.
If there is a potential for child pornography to be on the phones, why wouldn’t a law enforcement agency seek to find it? Isn’t that something that would normally be done?
The judge can keep the images from being released if they are found.
Sheriff-the truth will set you free and you will sleep at nite. Zarzaur-we are all waiting on that video. Let’s show the public the real deal. Judge-get ready Morgan and his peeps are going to bombard you with requests and filings attempting to dodge the truth coming out to the public so his reign can last as long as possible. See through this and continue to rule accordingly. The public deserves the truth Shereef Morgan stop playing dodge ball.
@ steve. We’ve had the highest rate of violent crime in history under Sir David’s watch. The thing is is that if he wasn’t part of this for example, then you should still know about what is going on that is not reputable within your local agency.
I’m waiting for him to call it fake news
I worked at the sheriffs department 8yrs. No doubt in my mind he is guilty.
I believe the real reason he wants everything sealed is because of who may be in those videos, pictures, texts and phone records. Are any of his staff or perhaps family members of his staff featured in that data?
Seeing that the Magistrate Judge has the authority to issue warrants why didn’t she? Obviously she had to review the evidence that she had on hand and the previous trial.
Everything else going on appears to be procedural in my view.
So many uneducated people with no facts just talking points.
This Sheriff is far and above doing anything remotely like what those on here are yapping about.
Nothing to hid and nothing to show the public either.
These cases are reviewed and reviewed. Law Enforcement does not cover for anyone. They will eat their own if need be. One bad apple kind of deal. Thats how the case got those 2 involved. If the Sheriff was involved the investigators would have happily taken him down with no care about his Position… It would have been a big feather in cap to the ones that found and got it pushed. But there is nothing NOTHING like that here.
THE STATE did the investigation since it involved some deputies. That way the sheriff is out of the line of evidence.
Drain the swamp!!!!!!
From a liability standpoint, if copies were made while the property was in evidence at ECSO then the ECSO would end up being liable for the distribution of child pornography if those copies/images got out.
I’m thinking the Morgan haters are taking advantage of this and calling it something it’s not.
so when the SAO or the SO investigate child porn crimes, do they not view the images to count them and charge the person with a count for each picture? why were the pics not downloaded and saved to a flash drive and admitted as evidence to begin with? if their are pics of child porn, would not the SAO/SO want to prosecute the sender and receiver? if pics were transmitted over the phone, would it not behoove the feds to be involved now since it happened on an electronic device that is regulated by the FCC? this is a lame attempt to cover something up IMO. it seems the high sheriff, (puff,puff) would want the proverbial book thrown at the people involved in child porn. this is stinks as bad as the landfill on a July day..kinda like today. head scratcher for sure
Sounds like the Fox has been caught in the hen house…The list of all the people involved in this scandal should be made public. Get it out in the open so it can be dealt with once and for all. CLEAN the place up!
The States Attorneys Office did not handle the investigation. The SAO did exactly what they do on all cases like this case. Morgan is desperate and his underlings are starting to drift away from him. He is feeling the void creep in that takes over your life when you are found to be a fraud. Morgan try’s to tell you what he wants you to hear in a tone that he believes makes you feel inferior to him. This time it changed. People know he is only a man. A very corrupt, inept, and cruel man. A man that the county has grown tired of belittling good officers for his nefarious benefits. Ruining people with lies and ignoring abuses of all people he has no use for at the time
Are we at the point of this story yet where Morgan begins to sacrifice his staff?
Can you say “Federal Grand Jury”
Destroy the phones if examined? Leo does not examine and work with the phone….they make an image (copy) and do the forensic analysis on the image.
Sounds like there maybe more fish to catch or more evidence.
If it where going to trail I believe there would be copies made to present in court, at least the judge would have to see. Can’t just says it is there!!!!!!!
he acts like a guilty person…
This doesn’t make sense at all. Evidence is provided to defense attorneys regularly in civil and criminal cases involving children and pornography. They have to defend their clients and have a right to review any and all evidence as part of the discovery process. Morgan has already made himself look like he has something to hide with his actions and in this case that he’s worried what might be found. The statement he made about the States Attorney Office being the lead agency was not correct. Seems like his narcissistic personality is guiding his actions more than common sense. He just wants to be in control and show his authority, not always knowing what he’s talking about.
Those phones should immediately be seized as evidence from the Sheriff’s Office. Why in the world would the defendant in a case be allowed to be the one who handles the evidence that can be used against them? This sounds shadier by the day.
I am a retired deputy, not an attorney. This case is currently in federal civil court, not state court. It is not a federal criminal case at this point, although I believe there is a possibility that it could become one. I do not know if this is legally possible, but I think it is time for the federal magistrate, (judge) Elizabeth Timothy, to order the FBI to immediately seize all evidence in this case in possession of the ECSO. This case should have been turned over to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement from its start. It always paints law enforcement in a bad light when we investigate ourselves. Why wasn’t it turned over to FDLE? You draw your own conclusions. Unfortunately, I know for a fact that too many ECSO deputies sullied their reputations by being involved with the Mannings.
There’s so much about this scenario that I’m having trouble understanding.
–In his press conference, Sheriff Morgan was adamant that it was the State’s Attorney’s Office that handled the investigation. Yet the cell phones and other evidence are in the possession of ECSO. Does ECSO maintain evidence for investigations handled by the SAO?
–In the same presser, Sheriff Morgan said that he kept himself apart from the original investigation because he was the one that would be signing off on it. Does he typically sign off on investigations conducted by the SAO?
–Having recused himself from the initial investigation, as it would not have been ethical for him to participate in an investigation conducted under his authority, wouldn’t the same standard hold for him to avoid steering the parameters of the current investigation?
–Is the argument that any officials or litigators viewing any images of minor children during the course of discovery would be in violation of the law? Or is his concern that an official or litigator might take the opportunity to reproduce and/or distribute any such images?
–Is his sense that any such images discovered on any of the devices would have arrived there through the activity of minor children with access to those devices?
–The judge has ordered the two parties to come to an agreement on disclosure of the cell phones. Does the judge then order a particular process if they can’t?
The phones could also contain pictures of dragons and unicorns, so the question is why weren’t the phones fully investigated if child porn is the concern of Morgan. Wreaks of obstruction and shady influence by Morgan to protect himself or someone else he knows.
I thought one of the main problems in the numerous lawsuit against them it that it is alleged they do Not perform the internal investigations (as in cover ups).
Why do I imagine some one there is smashing phones and shredding documents and throwing them in a fire..