Man accused of distributing child porn wants case evidence thrown out

FARGO, N.D. (KFGO/KVRR) — Attorneys for a man accused in federal court of distribution of child pornography and related charges say key evidence in the case should be thrown out because it was discovered during the service of a search warrant in an unrelated construction fraud case.

Magistrate Judge Alice Senechal heard testimony from investigators and forensic experts in the defense’s motion to suppress hearing this week in U.S. District Court in Fargo. Nicholas Morgan-Derosier’s case has been the subject of additional scrutiny after it was revealed last April that he was communicating by text from prison with Ray Holmberg, who was North Dakota’s longest-serving state Senator – and one of its most powerful – at the time. The alleged connection with Derosier led to Holmberg’s resignation from office.  Holmberg’s home in Grand Forks was also searched by federal agents last year, but it was unclear if the search was related to Derosier’s case.

Former Grand Forks Police Detective David Buzzo was the key witness for the government at the hearing. It was Buzzo’s August 2020 investigation into construction fraud by Team Lawn, Derosier’s landscaping company, which led to the discovery of thousands of images and videos of child pornography on Derosier’s electronic devices. Buzzo filed for a search warrant on Derosier’s home, out of which he operated his business, after discovering that Derosier was still operating despite a court injunction. One of the active landscaping projects was at Holmberg’s house.

Buzzo testified Derosier’s former business partner and housemate Robert Coons had been killed in a work-site accident in January 2019 when Coons slipped under a Bobcat that Derosier was operating. The incident happened when the two were clearing snow at Holmberg’s residence. Months later, Coons’ signature appeared on a check written after his death. After that and other complaints, the N.D. Attorney General’s Division of Consumer Protection and Antitrust issued the order of injunction to prohibit Team Lawn from doing business on October 15, 2019.

When Grand Forks police arrived to serve the construction fraud warrant on September 15, 2020, Derosier’s roommates told them that he had a thumb drive in a safe with “photos of boys” and that he’d raped a child. Investigators seized several electronic devices during the search, including the thumb drive from the safe, which was later confirmed to contain sexually explicit material involving children.

In a recorded interview during the search, Derosier can be heard on the phone scheduling a meeting with the AG’s office, requesting that it be timed in coordination with Holmberg’s legislative schedule so he could ride with the Senator to Bismarck.

The public defender representing Derosier contends his client’s 4th Amendment rights were violated due to errors in the search warrant and because the search of Derosier’s home and electronic devices by the Grand Forks Police and a Homeland Security agent were outside the warrant’s scope.

A detective who assisted in the service of the warrant testified that she had investigated of a previous cybertip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children connected with Derosier’s address.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Puhl is prosecuting the case for the federal government. She is joined by Charles Schmitz, a prosecutor in the DOJ’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section. The government argued the warrant gave investigators the authority to search Derosier’s property for anything related to his landscaping business, including photos, and that investigators immediately stopped their search when they found explicit material and obtained a new warrant.

Senechal will prepare a report and recommendation on the defense’s motion to suppress for Judge Peter Welte. Derosier’s trial is scheduled for August 1.