Albert Burgess made some bad decisions.
First, he downloaded a mass of child pornography. The folks at Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (or “ICE”) were able to find him through the payment information he supplied to the child porn purveyor.
ICE asked for and received a warrant to search his house. While his house was being searched he agreed to be questioned.
It’s good to be king.
The government, in a criminal investigation, can issue a grand jury subpoena to collect evidence and put witnesses under oath. It can execute search warrants to go into a home or business and take documents. It can cut deals with people it thinks are involved in a criminal enterprise, so that they’ll spend less time – or no time – in prison if they turn in someone else.
Someone fending off a government investigated can’t do any of this.
The Federal Criminal Appeals Blog