The Indiana law enforcement team that served a search warrant at the home of Subway sandwich pitchman Jared Fogle's house had a secret weapon for finding hidden media storage device.  

That secret weapon was "Bear" a two-year-old Labrador who is one of only five specially trained dogs who have the ability to "sniff out porn" in the form of thumb drives and other media devices.  Bear was able to sniff out a thumb drive that agents had been unable to locate, and was called a key part of the prosecution team by the lead prosecutor.  This evidence helped secure a guilty plea from Mr. Fogle on child porn and underage sex charges.

Bear's trainer worked with a laboratory to isolate a chemical byproduct emitted specifically by memory-storage devices like SIM cards, memory sticks and SD cards.  Then he trained Bear to detect the scent they give off, and alert him when the dog smells it.  

When local Seattle law enforcement heard the story of Bear's assistance in the Fogle case, they decided to purchase Bear.  His Seattle trainer has been working in Indianapolis with Bear's trainer for several weeks.  

As Seattle area criminal defense attorneys that defend those accused of sex crimes, we expect to continue to see additional finds of memory devices in criminal cases in the Seattle area.  This canine development will definitely make it harder for people to hide these storage devices.

Read more on the Seattle Times website here.