Activist Federally Charged for Deleting Phone Contents
Photo Credit: Norwood Themes at Unsplash
On January 24th, 2025, Samuel Tunick, an environmental activist, was taken into custody by Customs and Border Protection at the Hartsfield-Jackson airport in Atlanta, GA, upon return from the Dominican Republic. He was questioned regarding inappropriate child content.
Tunick was federally charged with destroying property to prevent government seizure by utilizing a privacy technology called GrapheneOS. This technology allows users to enter a duress code to wipe the phone’s contents.
A local news outlet, WBDJ7, reported, “CBP placed Tunick in secondary inspection upon his arrival, where CBP’s Tactical Terrorism Response Team questioned him, searched his body and belongings, and demanded the passcode to his phone.
Tunick’s attorneys Melissa McGrane and Joseph Austin of the Federal Defender Program said in a motion to suppress filed March 17, 2026, that CBP officers never read Tunick his Miranda rights.
According to the motion, Tunick stated early in the interview that he did not want to continue speaking without a lawyer. The motion states officers repeatedly ignored those requests.
Court documents quote one officer telling Tunick: “Because you’re refusing to talk, which is your right, we have the authority to go through your phone to see what we’re looking for.” When Tunick again asked why he could not call his lawyer, officers responded: “When it comes to immigration and customs, right, it’s a whole different ballgame . . . and we have search authority; we don’t need a warrant.”
Matthew Dodge, who is also Tunick’s attorney, told Atlanta News First that officers told Tunick they believed he had child pornography on his phone — a claim they later walked back.
“That was a lie,” Dodge said. “The agents came to court two weeks ago for our court hearing and admitted they had no reason to believe that Sam had child pornography. They made it up as a ruse.”
A federal grand jury indicted him Nov. 13, 2025, on one count under Title 18, United States Code, Section 2232(a), alleging he knowingly destroyed, damaged, wasted, disposed of, or otherwise took action to delete the digital contents of a Google Pixel cellular phone for the purpose of preventing the government from taking it into custody.
Tunick is out on a $10,000 bond, but if convicted, could serve up to 5 years in prison. Tunick claims he was targeted due to his activism in connection with the group Defend the Atlanta Forest, whose members are in opposition to the destruction of the South River Forest to build a $15 million police training facility.
WBDJ7 further reports, “An evidentiary hearing on the motion to suppress was held July 20, 2026, before U.S. Magistrate Judge Christopher C. Bly in Atlanta federal court. Three CBP officers testified for the government: Officer Larry Findlay, Chief CBP Officer Jason Thomas Hawkins, and Officer Latoya Castro. The court left the hearing open to supplement additional testimony.”
Under the briefing schedule set by the court, Tunick’s post-hearing brief is due Sept. 18, 2026. The government’s response is due Oct. 9, 2026, and Tunick’s reply is due Oct. 23, 2026.
The Islamic Post Staff and News Agency WBDJ7