Expert: Forensic study on computers will tell all

Conor Makem

ROCHESTER - If there is anything incriminating on the computers and other electronic equipment confiscated by Rochester Police in connection with the planting of a suspected camera in the ladies bathroom at Merchants Plaza, an area computer expert says it won’t go unnoticed.

“If there is anything (evidentiary) on that computer they will find it,” said David Butterworth of Farmington Computers in Farmington. “They have their methods.”

Rochester Police confiscated the desktop and laptop computers used by Foster’s Daily Democrat and Rochester Times reporter Conor Makem on Thursday after an investigation into the placement of a suspected camera in the ceiling of a communal women’s bathroom used by a cluster of offices, including Foster’s.

It all started when a woman using the bathroom last Monday saw a red light blinking from a device lodged in the bathroom ceiling, according to a search warrant affidavit.

She notified Makem, who was working in the Foster’s bureau office nearby, and together they inspected the device. Makem was supposed to notify Rochester Police about the device, but never did, according to the affidavit, spurring an investigation that led to the equipment being seized on Thursday. (earlier story)

Butterworth said if something illegal were done on the computer it’s virtually impossible to hide that wrongdoing, since even if you delete a file, it still exists on the hard drive.

“When you delete a file, all you delete is the entry of the drive that points to it, so the file is still there, and a computer forensics expert can find it,” Butterworth said today.

Makem, 45, is currently on suspension from his duties at Foster’s, which owns the Rochester Times, while the newspaper conducts its own internal investigation, said Foster’s Publisher Patty Foster. She said on Friday afternoon she hadn’t spoken to Makem since the computers - among them a Foster’s workstation tower - were seized.

Butterworth, meanwhile, said the only way any potential evidence could be deleted would be if a user wrote nothing but zeros to the hard drive, which would render the computer systems inoperable.

The only other unlikely scenario that would void possible evidence would be if the entry code – which is kind of like an address – were overwritten. He said that, also, was very unlikely.

He said remote cameras usually have an IP address, which could potentially also be an investigative tool for police.

Butterworth said he was unsure how long a forensic study of the computer hard drive would normally take.

Makem, according to the affidavit, refused to give police his computer passwords, but Butterworth said police could likely bypass those roadblocks in a matter of minutes.

The Search Warrant states that there is probable cause that the crimes of Interception and Disclosure of Telecommunication Prohibited, Falsifying Physical Evidence and Violation of Privacy have all been committed. 

Interception and Disclosure of Telecommunication Prohibited, and Falsifying Physical Evidence are both felonies in New Hampshire, while Violation of Privacy is a Class A misdemeanor.

Makem, a longtime reporter for both papers, is also a well-known area musician with the Makem Brothers.

According to Wikipedia.com, he is the son of Tommy Makem, who is “one of the most famous Irish musicians in the world, first as a member of The Clancy Brothers and later as a solo act.”

Rochester Police were unavailable for comment for this story.