It is the mission of the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office to suppress, prevent and deter crime with the relentless pursuit of all criminals as a top priority.

To effectively pursue all criminals, the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office recognized the necessity of delving into digital forensics investigations.

Monroe County Sheriff's Office

Detective Christopher VanHoose’s passion for puzzles goes back to his early childhood. Now a top figure in the Major Crimes Unit at the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office in Key West, Florida, he compares his job to piecing together mosaics from evidence fragments.

“An extraction occurs,” he said. “You examine it and see a mosaic of information. It’s hard to distinguish evidence until you follow each small clue. With fraud cases, AI helps analyze and categorize documents like social security cards and driver’s licenses. This organization allows detectives to have a starting point once everything is uploaded.”

Christopher’s team uses Cellebrite Inseyets to collect and review different types of data sets and Cellebrite Guardian for evidence management.

“We’ve resolved so many cases in the past two years that it’s shifted from questioning its necessity to wondering how we’d manage without it,” Christopher noted. The rising volume and frequency of cases present an increasing challenge. In 2023, their digital forensics team handled approximately 120 requests, many demanding extractions from several devices. “Android devices usually have two parts: user data and the full file system. This typically doubles the extraction workload and time required.”

Hundreds of Hours Saved

Inspired by his father, Detective VanHoose started his law enforcement career in New Mexico and relocated to the Florida Keys in 2020. Back then, detectives spent hours traveling between Key Largo and Key West to handle evidence.

The investigation required obtaining devices, making physical copies, and returning the originals to the case agent. “That’s a lot of driving,” he noted, since detectives were stationed at various substations that are spread across more than 980 square miles throughout the county.

Monroe County Sheriff's OfficeCellebrite Guardian enables Detective VanHoose to remotely share forensics results with the primary case agent, who then shares them with the state attorney, and subsequently the defense attorney, all without travel time. This streamlined process, from scene to courtroom, allows investigators to concentrate on the important work: solving their cases.

“Hundreds of man-hours, no doubt. With the time saved, I can focus on analyzing data sets. Plus, it’s not just my hours being saved.”

“My lieutenant can now directly access all my cases without relying on an Excel sheet to track my activities. This streamlined approach is consistent throughout the system—benefiting us, the evidence department, and the state attorney’s office. Guardian has significantly reduced the time spent on requests; with just a click of a button, you can get an answer that previously required 10 emails,” said Detective VanHoose.

Operation Garmin: Positioned for Success with Cellebrite Inseyets

When a sophisticated crime syndicate started targeting luxury boats stored in marinas across several Florida counties, investigators turned to digital evidence to solve the case.

“Digital evidence was crucial,” stated Detective VanHoose, detailing the mechanics of ‘Operation Garmin.’ Central to the investigation were cellphone photos and communications from the theft ringleader to scouts and eventually to those who executed the thefts. “The ringleader would distribute a shopping list, the scouts would locate the items and pass that information along to the worker bees who then stole the items,” VanHoose explained.

The targeted items the thieves were after were Garmin GPS systems. The crime ring – which was headquartered out of Miami-Dade County – stole more than $2.5 million worth of the systems.

In the course of their forensic investigation, investigators linked serial number details from the images to those documented in previous police reports.

The digital evidence led investigators on a pursuit. “We tracked it not just in our county, but in four others where they operated. That all stemmed from the digital evidence, which ultimately led to several confessions.”

Digital Breadcrumbs Bring Down an Entire Drug Network

In Florida, where drug dealers can face first-degree murder charges for an overdose death, digital forensics would uncover the entire supply chain involved in a person’s death.

Detective VanHoose used Cellebrite Inseyets to uncover crucial text messages and cash app transactions between the victim and the dealer. With timestamped GPS data and video footage, the dealer was indicted, along with the supplier.

Then, with credit due to Monroe County Sheriff Office’s Special Investigations and Narcotics Detectives, they went a step further. They located and charged the drug distributor for that supply line, bringing the whole network down.

Christopher reflected on the accomplishment, saying, “It all began with a small piece of digital evidence that led to everything else falling into place. It’s impressive how swiftly an investigation can proceed when data is processed and analyzed efficiently.”

Expediting Justice with Artificial Intelligence Features

Vanhoose appreciates the exciting artificial intelligence innovations in Cellebrite’s digital investigative solutions. Cellebrite has integrated cutting-edge advancements from the artificial intelligence domain into its digital investigative solutions. Cellebrite Pathfinder now includes Media Classification features, aiding examiners in identifying Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM). This significantly reduces the labor and time required to sift through numerous files on a suspect’s device. “It helps you get through an investigation more rapidly,” Detective VanHoose emphasized, noting that this feature enables examiners to concentrate on validating critical images, amidst thousands of inconsequential ones.

He discussed future upgrades, sharing that his team plans to install Cellebrite Pathfinder. He prefers the Cellebrite ecosystem, noting, “The GUI of Cellebrite is easier to read and more user-friendly.”

Christopher frequently exchanges stories with his dad, who was active in the 1970’s and 1980’s. In the past, crucial evidence was physical; today, it’s digital. Breakthroughs can come from JPEGs, RAM analysis, or root key information. Christopher remarked, “My dad searching for physical evidence then is similar to what I do digitally now.”

Detective Christopher VanHoose uses Cellebrite’s digital tools to solve crimes quickly. He emphasizes the importance of expert training to understand and explain how Cellebrite works and to validate evidence in court.

The outcomes are evident. Nowadays, with law enforcement officers being highly trained and well-equipped in digital forensics, countless hours are conserved, justice is achieved, and the vulnerable are protected.