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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLORADO

)
IN RE APPLICATION OF THE )
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA FOR ) CASE NO. 16-sw-06007-NYW
AN ORDER PURSUANT TO )
18 U.S.C. § 2703(d) ) Filed Under Restriction
)

APPLICATION OF THE UNITED STATES

FOR AN ORDER PURSUANT TO 18 U.S.C. § 2703(d)

The United States of America, moving by and through its undersigned counsel,

respectfully submits under restriction from public access this ex parte application for an Order

pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 2703(d). The proposed Order would require Snapchat, Inc., an Internet

Service Provider located in Venice, CA, to disclose certain records and other information

pertaining to the usernames: getlikemikey, deuce5225, bake_bake21, barnes_23, larrbear47, and

papi_mulato. The records and other information to be disclosed are described in Attachment A to

the proposed Order. In support of this application, the United States asserts:

LEGAL BACKGROUND

1. Snapchat, Inc. is a provider of an electronic communications service, as defined in

18 U.S.C. § 2510(15), and/or a remote computing service, as defined in 18 U.S.C. § 2711(2).

Accordingly, the United States may use a court order issued under § 2703(d) to require Snapchat,

Inc. to disclose the items described in Part II of Attachment A. See 18 U.S.C. § 2703(c)(2) (Part

II.A of Attachment A); 18 U.S.C. § 2703(c)(1) (Part II.B of Attachment A).

2. This Court has jurisdiction to issue the proposed Order because it is “a court of

competent jurisdiction,” as defined in 18 U.S.C. § 2711. See 18 U.S.C. § 2703(d). Specifically,

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the Court is a district court of the United States that has jurisdiction over the offense being

investigated. See 18 U.S.C. § 2711(3)(A)(i).

3. A court order under § 2703(d) “shall issue only if the governmental entity offers

specific and articulable facts showing that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the

contents of a wire or electronic communication, or the records or other information sought, are

relevant and material to an ongoing criminal investigation.” 18 U.S.C. § 2703(d). Accordingly,

the next section of this application sets forth specific and articulable facts showing that there are

reasonable grounds to believe that the records and other information described in Part II of

Attachment A are relevant and material to an ongoing criminal investigation.

THE RELEVANT FACTS

4. The United States is investigating drug trafficking. The investigation concerns

possible violations of, inter alia, 21 U.S.C. § 841 (a)(1) (Distribution of a controlled substance)

and 21 U.S.C. § 846 (Conspiracy to distribute controlled substances).

5. On or about 08/31/2016, the FBI was contacted by the Fort Collins Police

Services, Fort Collins, CO, requesting assistance regarding the disappearance of Devon Smeltz

under mysterious circumstances. A disturbance had been reported at Smeltz’s residence, which

he shared with mother, during the early morning hours of 08/26/2016. Smeltz’s mother, Dawn

Becker, was also concerned that she had not heard from her son since the previous day,

08/25/2016. Becker provided that her son’s phone was disconnected, which worried her and

shared that her son may have been involved in drug dealing. She advised that she had heard third

hand that, before Smeltz disappeared, he was possibly meeting with some people from

Cincinnati.

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6. Becker identified her son’s vehicle as a white Mercedes sedan. Becker and

Smeltz are the registered owners of a 2014 white Mercedes, bearing Colorado license plates

QVF-469. Ultimately, Smeltz’s vehicle was entered into NCIC by the Fort Collins Police

Department.

7. During the early morning hours of 08/27/2016, law enforcement in Illinois

conducted traffic stops of a white Mercedes Benz passenger vehicle bearing Colorado license

plate QVF-469, Smeltz’s vehicle, and a Jeep Wrangler bearing Ontario license plate BXL-436.

The Mercedes was being driven by Joshua Baker with Michael Gresham as a passenger.

Lawrence Greggs was the driver of the Jeep. Greggs admitted he was traveling with the two

individuals in the Mercedes. Greggs gave consent for a search of the Jeep, which resulted in the

discovery of a loaded firearm. A police K-9 conducted a free air sniff around the Mercedes and

gave a positive indication for illegal drugs. A probable cause search revealed both firearms and a

white powdery substance inside of the Mercedes. Greggs, Baker, and Gresham were all taken

into custody on state drug and weapons charges.

8. The aforementioned charges against Greggs, Baker, and Gresham were dismissed

in Illinois and during the week of September 19, 2016, they were extradited to Colorado and

made their appearances in Larimer County District Court. Larimer County charged Greggs,

Baker, and Gresham with a variety of felonies, to include first degree murder. The three suspects

are currently being held in Larimer County jail pending trial.

9. A further search of the Mercedes revealed a notable amount of blood inside the

interior of the Mercedes. Additionally, approximately 115 grams of a white powdery substance,

believed to be cocaine, were recovered from the vehicles. Officers assigned to the Vermillion

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Metro Enforcement Group in Illinois notified the Fort Collins Police Department of the arrest of

Greggs, Baker, and Gresham and the circumstances surrounding their arrest.

10. During a custodial interview, Greggs admitted he had traveled with Baker and

Gresham from Cincinnati, Ohio to Fort Collins Colorado.

11. Subsequent investigations revealed that Isiah Barnes and Dwayne Wilson II are

associates of Baker, Greggs, and Gresham. Barnes and Wilson were also in the Fort Collins,

Colorado area during the same time frame as Baker, Greggs, and Gresham. Similar to the other

three, Barnes and Wilson drove from the Cincinnati area to Colorado but were a couple hours

behind in a separate vehicle from Baker, Greggs, and Gresham. The two vehicles were in fairly

constant communication during the entire trip based on toll record analysis for their phones.

12. On Saturday 09/03/2016, a body was discovered in rural Morgan County,

Colorado, approximately one hour east of Fort Collins, Colorado. The remains were positively

identified the next day as being those of Devon Smeltz.

13. Forensic analysis of the phones for Smeltz, Baker, Barnes, Gresham, and Wilson

indicate numerous separate conversations, images and movies regarding obtained and selling

narcotics. It is the belief of investigators that Smeltz was dealing drugs in Colorado, and Baker,

Barnes, Greggs, Gresham, and Wilson were involved in a drug trade out of Ohio.

14. Multiple interviews were conducted with friends and family members of the five

individuals who traveled from Cincinnati to Colorado. Those interviews revealed that Greggs left

Ohio with approximately $60,000. His family member believed the money was to facilitate a

drug transaction. That money was never recovered from either vehicle that was stopped in

Illinois. Subsequent interviews revealed that Barnes and Wilson may have picked up that money

and transported it back to Ohio. Investigators heard their operating procedure was to use two

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cars so the money and drugs were carried in different vehicles. The family member who was

interviewed stated this was done to help reduce the risk of losing both assets, should one of the

vehicles be pulled over.

15. Given the aforementioned information, it is believed that the five individuals from

Cincinnati drove to Fort Collins to meet with Smeltz and execute a drug transaction, which

turned deadly. Surveillance video from the presumed scene of the murder shows that Smeltz was

likely shot at approximately 2:45am MST on 08/26/2016. A video recovered from Gresham’s

phone with a timestamp of 2:52am MST on 08/26/2016 contains the voice of at least two males.

One of the males, called out Baker’s name and made reference to his phone and sending a

“snap”. I believe this to be slang for sending a message using Snapchat, Inc.. Since there were

no calls between the subjects and Smeltz, it is likely that they were using other communication

methods, to include Snapchat, Inc., to arrange their drug deal the night Smeltz was murdered.

16. Subsequent examinations of Baker’s, Greggs’, and Gresham’s twitter accounts

revealed that they were all Snapchat, Inc. account holders, utilizing the accounts names

bake_bake21, larrbear47, and getlikemikey, respectively. Additionally, an examination of

Smeltz’s telephone, which was recovered inside the Mercedes, revealed that Smeltz was a

Snapchat, Inc. account holder and that he utilized the Snapchat, Inc. account name papi_mulato.

In reviewing Barnes and Wilson’s cell phones subsequent to a federal search warrant,

investigators learned that Barnes utilizes the Snapchat, Inc. account name barnes_23 and Wilson

utilizes the account name deuce5225.

17. A review of toll records, obtained via court order by the Fort Collins Police

Department, of the telephones of Smeltz, Baker and Gresham revealed the three did not call or

exchange text messages with one another on the day of or weeks leading up to the drug deal,

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further supporting the belief that they used alternative means, including Snapchat, Inc. to

communicate with one another. No cell phone was recovered from Greggs.

18. Lastly, given that many of the subjects in this case often use the same means of

communication to register multiple email addresses and telephone numbers, the records sought

in this application will allow for corroboration of communications between the victim and

subjects, and associates of the subjects, as well as provide investigating agents additional leads

regarding the scope of the narcotics trafficking operation, possible consensual monitoring

opportunities, and identification of other conspirators involved.

REQUEST FOR ORDER

19. The facts set forth in the previous section show that there are reasonable grounds

to believe that the records and other information described in Part II of Attachment A are

relevant and material to an ongoing criminal investigation. Specifically, these items will help the

United States to identify and locate the individual(s) who are responsible for the events described

above, and to determine the nature and scope of their activities. Accordingly, the United States

requests that Snapchat, Inc. be directed to produce all items described in Part II of Attachment A

to the proposed Order.

20. The United States further requests that the Order require Snapchat, Inc. not to

notify any person, including the subscribers or customers of the accounts listed in Part I of

Attachment A, of the existence of the Order until further order of the Court. See 18 U.S.C. §

2705(b). This Court has authority under 18 U.S.C. § 2705(b) to issue “an order commanding a

provider of electronic communications service or remote computing service to whom a warrant,

subpoena, or court order is directed, for such period as the court deems appropriate, not to notify

any other person of the existence of the warrant, subpoena, or court order.” Id. In this case, such

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an order would be appropriate because the requested Order relates to an ongoing criminal

investigation that is neither public nor known to all of the targets of the investigation, and its

disclosure may alert the targets to the ongoing investigation. Accordingly, there is reason to

believe that notification of the existence of the requested Order will seriously jeopardize the

investigation, including by giving targets an opportunity to flee or continue flight from

prosecution, destroy or tamper with evidence, change patterns of behavior, or notify

confederates. See 18 U.S.C. § 2705(b)(2), (3), (5). Some of the evidence in this investigation is

stored electronically. If alerted to the investigation, the subjects under investigation could

destroy that evidence, including information saved to their personal computers.

21. The United States further requests that the Court order that this case, namely the

application and any resulting order, be restricted from all public access until further order of the

Court. As explained above, these documents discuss an ongoing criminal investigation that is

neither public nor known to all of the targets of the investigation. Accordingly, there is good

cause to restrict these documents from public access because their premature disclosure may

seriously jeopardize that investigation.

Respectfully submitted,

ROBERT C. TROYER
ACTING UNITED STATES ATTORNEY

s/Beth Gibson________________
Beth Gibson
Assistant United States Attorney
1225 17th Street, Suite 700
Denver, Colorado 80202
Telephone: 303-454-0100