His alleged crime involved computers, the internet and hacking into unsecured wireless connections, but in the end, it was good, old-fashioned police work that led to a 33-year-old Oxford man’s arrest Jan. 26.
Andrew Kyle Holland was arraigned in United States District Court, Eastern District of Michigan, on the federal charge of transferring obscene material to a minor across state lines by means of a computer. He’s currently being held without bond in the Wayne County Jail and awaiting his next federal court appearance Feb. 9.
Holland is accused of using the internet to send sexually explicit images of himself to an undercover detective posing as a 13-year-old girl in Vermont named “Ashley.” The officer, Detective Michael P. Henry, of the Burlington Police Department, was working as part of the Vermont Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.
‘He had sent photos of himself in the nude,? according to Corporal Raymond Johnson, who works for the Wayne County Sheriff’s Department’s Internet Crime Unit, which is part of the Michigan Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.
Holland’s initial contact with the Vermont undercover officer was made on July 28, 2009, according to the criminal complaint filed in federal court.
After chatting for a while, Holland allegedly sent Detective Henry four pornographic images depicting adults engaged in various sexual acts.
“The male shown in the pornographic pictures was white, in his mid-30s, with dark hair, and a protruding stomach,” the complaint stated.
Posing as “Ashley,” Detective Henry wrote to Holland “my age doesn’t scare u. . .because a lot of people stop talking to me.” According to the complaint, Holland replied, “no not really. . .”
Holland allegedly continued to communicate with Detective Henry/”Ashley” between July 29 and Aug. 6, 2009 and between Aug. 21 and Aug. 26, 2009.
“Their discussions focused on the same explictly sexual topics as they had on previous occasions,” the complaint stated. “Holland continued to encourage Detective Henry’s undercover profile to ‘get naked’ with him and . . . telling ‘Ashley’ he would ‘love to be (her) first.”’
Holland allegedly sent the undercover detective an additional four pornographic images of an adult male.
The Vermont task force later contacted the Michigan task force and Johnson handled the investigation locally.
According to Johnson, Holland used the unsecured wireless internet connections of two neighbors to carry out his alleged crime. The neighbors had no knowledge of what he was allegedly doing.
‘Vermont actually had one of the neighbors as the suspect,? he said. ‘Once I reviewed the files they had sent, something just didn’t seem right about what they had provided. There were two IP addresses involved and two different home addresses involved, which was kind of strange.?
Every machine on the internet has a unique identifying number called an Internet Protocol (IP) address. An IP address serves two principal functions ? host or network interface identification and location addressing.
During the course of his investigation, Johnson visited East Lake Trail in Waterstone, where Holland lives, to check things out.
‘I noticed both addresses were right across the street from each other, so I opened up my (cell) phone to see if there were any Wi-Fi signals in the area and I was able to find one that was unsecured,? he explained. ‘I connected to it, went to the website ‘What is my IP?? and the IP result was the same one that was included in one of the subpoenas that Vermont had sent.
‘Right away, that told me either somebody’s been coming over here, parking in this spot and utilizing the internet or possibly one of the neighbors is hacking into it.?
Johnson jotted down the addresses of the surrounding houses and determined who the occupants of each were. He then compared their driver’s license photos to the images sent to the Vermont undercover officer.
‘That’s when we came across Mr. Holland’s address and the (driver’s license) photo matched exactly to the ones that were sent,? the corporal said.
A search warrant was executed on Holland’s home to verify if he was hacking into the neighbors? internet systems.
‘Once we went out there, he admitted that he had been doing it,? Johnson said. ‘We asked the neighbors if they had given him permission to use their internet and they said no.?
Johnson noted Holland had two computers in his home, a desktop and a laptop. Both were seized and are being examined.
‘We’re not sure exactly which computer he used the most, or if he used them both, but he was definitely using a wireless connection to hack into the neighbors? internet,? he said. ‘We had one of our officers out their with his laptop, picking up all the wireless signals, and those were the only two (on the street) that were unsecured. Everybody else in the neighborhood was secured.?
Johnson indicated it’s possible more criminal charges against Holland could be forthcoming after his computers are examined.
‘We have to do forensics on the computers,? he said. ‘We don’t know what we’re going to find on there. Whenever we arrest somebody, there’s always a possibility of additional crimes, especially when it’s computer crimes.?
Johnson noted it’s a good thing some legwork was done in this case because otherwise two innocent people could have been accused of a very serious charge.
‘If we hadn’t done the investigation, if we would have just used what we got from Vermont, we would have been executing search warrants on two homes of two victims,? he said. ‘We’re lucky that (Holland) sent his picture because if he hadn’t, we definitely would have been hitting those other houses . . . We’re just happy that we made sure we had our ducks in a row in this investigation and got the right person without embarrassing any neighbors or the department by raiding the wrong houses.?
Making sure wireless internet connections are secure is something everyone should do, Johnson said.
‘They need to secure their wireless (internet connections) because they could have a law enforcement team executing a search warrant on their house and taking all of their computer stuff,? he said.
Securing a wireless connection isn’t difficult.
‘Break out the manual and read about how to put a password in,? Johnson said. ‘It’s real simple to do if they follow the instructions.?
This isn’t the first time Holland’s been involved with an internet-based crime. Back in 2002, he was convicted of arranging to have sex with a young girl he met on-line.
According to Johnson, Holland had planned to meet for sex with what he thought was a 13-year-old girl. It was actually an undercover officer from the Wayne County Sheriff’s Internet Crime Unit.
‘Being that the crime was kind of new, he kind of slipped through the cracks where he didn’t have to register (as a sex offender). He only got like a couple days in jail and five years probation,? the corporal said. ‘He actually got off pretty good, so we were shocked to see that he was willing to jump back in the saddle and try this again.?
‘We’re kind of happy that we ended up getting him again,? Johnson added. ‘He’s not going to get off easy this time around.?
Holland works as a service manager for the Meijer store in Royal Oak. He has two young daughters and his wife is pregnant with their third child.