Montgomery County deputy earns prestigious award for forensics

One of the Montgomery County Sheriff’s deputies, Isaiah Kellar, received the prestigious U.S. Secret Service Forensic Partner Award for outstanding service in computer forensics.

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The award is only given to 25 officers nationwide, and Kellar is the only officer in Southern Ohio. He received it Wednesday during the annual Montgomery County Chiefs of Police meeting at Sinclair Community College.

It used to be the only way evidence was gathered on potential crimes was a deputy pulling up to a scene and taking pictures, maybe lifting some fingerprints. Now, though, evidence can be gathered off cellphones or other electronic devices.

“It allows us to look inside someone’s world,” Kellar said. “If you think about it, everyone does everything through their phones and their computers.”

Kellar is leading the charge into computer forensic investigations in Montgomery County. He’s been so successful, the Secret Service named him one of the top 50 computer forensic examiners in the country in 2018 after completing 250 exams.

“It’s a huge honor. I’m extremely humbled. I never thought I would be getting an award here in Montgomery County, Ohio,” he said.

Kellar works on cases for the Secret Service as part of a national task force, as well as county cases like in the second trial of fugitive former youth soccer coach Justin Smith, accused of sex crimes against a teenage girl. Most of the evidence in the second case came from a cellphone seized by investigators.

“I used the training for his case but any and every case that I work,” Kellar said.

It doesn’t come as a surprise to most people that law enforcement is using technology, because everyone else is.

“Yes, the way technology is, I knew eventually cellphones would rule the world,” said Patricia Triplett, who added that nearly everyone has their entire lives, and business, on their electronic devices.

But police say their are safeguards, just like searching a car or a house, they must get a warrant to search your cellphone or computer.

Digital forensics also can be used to clear someone.

“Someone could be wrongly accused of something and all you have to do is check their phone. It’ll be the truth,” Triplett said.

Prosecutors say forensic evidence gathered from cellphones and other electronic devices is often the missing link needed to help them convict a criminal.