UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT _____________

No. 19-3961 _____________

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

Appellant

v.

ROBERT DEAN CAESAR _____________________________________

On Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania (District Court No.: 2:18-cr-00525-001) District Judge: Honorable Gerald J. Pappert _____________________________________

Argued February 11, 2021

(Filed June 23, 2021)

Before: CHAGARES, SCIRICA, and RENDELL, Circuit Judges. William M. McSwain Seth M. Schlessinger Jennifer A. Williams (Argued) Robert A. Zauzmer Office of United States Attorney 615 Chestnut Street Suite 1250 Philadelphia, PA 19106

Counsel for Appellant Stephen P. Patrizio Two Penn Center Plaza 1500 John F. Kennedy Boulevard Suite 1205 Philadelphia, PA 19102 David E. Robbins (Argued) 8 Erika Lane Broomall, PA 19008

Counsel for Appellee

_________

OPINION _________ RENDELL, Circuit Judge.

Facing federal child pornography charges, defendant- appellee Robert Caesar moved to suppress evidence seized pursuant to search warrants executed by the Pennsylvania State Police. The District Court granted the motion in part, suppressing thousands of images of child pornography and photographs of Caesar’s sexual abuse victims. The Government now appeals.

The initial warrant application contained information that Caesar had sexually abused two children in his home and, on multiple occasions, took to the Internet seeking out used children’s undergarments and photos and videos of partially clothed children. Although the supporting affidavit included no express allegations that Caesar possessed child pornography, it stated that child abusers “routinely keep” such images. App. 49. The magistrate judge issued a warrant authorizing officers to search Caesar’s home for child pornography and other sexually explicit images of minors, among other things, and several items of electronic equipment, later found to contain child pornography, were seized. Charged under federal law with producing, receiving, and possessing child pornography, Caesar moved to suppress the images. The District Court excluded the images, determining that the statements linking child molestation with child

2 pornography failed to establish probable cause. It further concluded that the affidavit was so deficient that the good faith exception to the exclusionary rule did not apply. Because we conclude that the officers relied on the initial warrant in good faith, we will reverse that part of the District Court order suppressing the images and remand for further proceedings. I. BACKGROUND

The evidence at issue was gathered by State Police officers pursuant to three search warrants while investigating Caesar for various sexual offenses involving minors. Because our Fourth Amendment inquiry turns on the sufficiency of the affidavits of probable cause presented to the issuing magistrate, the facts are largely drawn from those affidavits. See United States v. Zimmerman, 277 F.3d 426, 430 n.3 (3d Cir. 2002).

A. The Initial Tip and Caesar’s eBay Activity

In July 2017, the State Police received a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (“NCMEC”) about suspicious online activity by an eBay user. Officers investigated the tip and discovered several outgoing messages from the user’s account, horses357, seeking to buy children’s used underwear and swimsuits. In one message, the user asked for a photo of the inside of the clothing item and for information about th