This case study examines the federal prosecution of Thomas Boukamp, a twenty-year-old man from Alden, Michigan, who cyberstalked and enticed a thirteen-year-old girl from Lubbock, Texas over the Internet. He eventually took her from her middle school in Lubbock to his home in Michigan where he sexually abused and tortured her for nine days before her rescue. This presentation will discuss the extensive and rapid investigation involving, but not limited to, administrative subpoenas to various Internet and social media platforms and exigent circumstances, cell-phone location data and mapping, multi-state interagency cooperation, sexual assault examination findings and testimony, forensic interviewing and expert testimony, psychological evaluations and autism spectrum disorder, recorded jail calls, monitored jail mail and an escape plot. Lastly, the presenters will discuss the issues dealing with a pro se defendant especially in a case involving contraband discovery.
Learning Objectives:
Develop techniques to thoroughly and quickly investigate cases involving the Internet and missing children
Learn best practices for evidence collection, processing, and gathering of additional evidence and materials to successfully prosecute a defendant
Learn to effectively prosecute child exploitations cases, handle mental health defense claims, and deal with defendants who elect to represent themselves
