‘Golden State Killer’ prosecutor enlists special K-9 to sniff out cybercrimes in new digital strategy

A special electronic detection K-9 is helping a central California district attorney’s office crack down on a rise in cybercrimes.

Tulare County District Attorney Tim Ward shared details with Fox News Digital about how the office’s newest crime-fighting canine will play a crucial role in helping tackle the growing number of cybercrimes.

“I’ll be honest, when my chief investigator came to me with this concept as an idea, you know, what would you think about doing this? I honestly didn’t know if she was joking or not. There’s a dog that can smell electronics. Are you kidding me? But it’s been an eye-opening experience,” Ward recalled. 

Ward said his office was one of 12 in the country awarded an electronic detection dog through the National Forensic Institute program of the U.S. Secret Service.

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“We’re pretty honored to be included with that,” Ward said. “We fashioned ourselves as being kind of a leader in the areas of crimes against children and white-collar crime. But, make no mistake about it, Tor is here to assist all of our law enforcement partners across the county.”

Tor, a 2-year-old black labrador retriever, gained his name from an area of the dark web and will be used to assist with crimes that use electronic devices, such as child pornography, scams and other web offenses. 

Tor’s handler, TCDA Criminal Investigator Anthony Benitez, said that electronic storage detection (ESD) K-9s started being used around 2012 and more heavily in 2015 when ESD K-9 “Bear” and his trainer/handler Todd Jordan with Jordan Detection K9 were called upon to help on the Jared Fogle investigation.

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Benitez added that their search helped find key evidence used to prosecute Fogle in that case. 

“Todd Jordan was also Tor’s trainer through his company, and since the 2015 investigation, their use has increased as more law enforcement agencies obtain these K-9’s,” Benitez explained. 

Ward explained that Tor is trained to detect a chemical, triphenylphosphine oxide used in the manufacturing of just about any type of storage device, like cellphones, USB drives, micro SD cards, computers and cameras. 

“The concept is not too far-fetched from a canine narcotic dog that’s trained to smell narcotics. We’ve often seen dogs in airports that are trained to smell explosives. Well, this is a very niche, very narrow area that he is trained to detect that chemical, and it can be in pretty small amounts,” Ward said.

Benitez explained that ESD K-9’s are called upon to search a location once law enforcement has already completed a manual search, such as in a search of a home.

“As you know, small MicroSD cards, USB drives or cellphones can be hidden in various places and sometimes overlooked by law enforcement. An ESD K-9 like Tor will then search this location and potentially find the hidden devices,” Benitez said.

“Most people don’t normally conceal their devices, and any hidden devices located would be forensically analyzed to determine any evidentiary value. Tor would indicate the chemical TPPO found on the device and not on the content.”

Ward added that they have always had a focus on crimes against children but said that, over the last five to eight years, they have seen an emergence of white-collar crime and fraud.

“When I say fraud, you immediately start thinking of embezzlement, right? But it’s not too far down that path till you start seeing crimes like murder for financial gain,” Ward said.

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Ward said authorities have seen an “increased number of fraud, embezzlement and complex white-collar crime cases happening,” and that they are seeing both crime types “merging in the area in the use of electronics and storage devices.”

“I’ll say argumentatively, the criminality of hiding the evidence, whether they be the images of child porn, horrible things, or if they are deception and hiding financial records and following the money. What we’re excited about is that Tor is able to assist law enforcement in whatever the original crime type is,” Ward said. 

Ward has served as Tulare County district attorney since 2012 and has developed a Crimes Against Children Unit and a Human Trafficking Task Force and has brought the first Courthouse Comfort dog to Tulare County.

Ward said the need for police K-9s like Tor is essential as crime is evolving, sharing a past example.

“Several years ago, I had the privilege of being part of the prosecution of the Visalia Ransacker case, who turned out to be the ‘Golden State Killer,'” he said. “And I said in the sentencing of that defendant that, at the time, we were seeing, as science and technology grew, and it expanded, what it’s going to do is shrink the space that criminals are able to operate in.

“And I think that’s the message here. For anyone that would think that they are smarter than this dog’s nose, you will not get away with it. If he’s in the area, he can detect it.” 

Ward said he hopes that victims knowing Tor is out there will give them and their families hope and a sense of protection.

“We’re lucky and fortunate that the U.S. Secret Service chose us to be a part of this. And we’re going to be good stewards. And we’re going to do everything we can to put him (Tor) to good use,” Ward said. 

“Having a tool like Tor will tremendously aid law enforcement in finding hidden items like this. Finding this one item could make or break a case,” Benitez added. 

Ward said despite “so much going on in California right now,” his office is sending a clear message.

“There’s so many voices and things coming out of Sacramento. Who’s the voice that’s left out of all of that conversation? It’s the victims’ voices and the families of victims. And our heart certainly goes out to any family who has a child impacted by crime,” Ward said.

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With the use of Tor, Ward is confident they will be able to protect more people.

“We can send a message to those families that don’t have a voice coming out of Sacramento right now that someone does, in fact, care about victims. And we’re going to do everything we can to hold those criminals accountable,” he said.