ROCHESTER, N.Y.–The FBI said it has been able to crack the iPhone of the suspect in a murder that took place in a credit union lobby a decade ago.
When FBI agents arrested Richard Leon Wilbern in September, he was carrying the iPhone.
Wilbern is a suspect in a long-time cold case that became active following a tip. He has been charged with the 2003 robbery and murder inside a branch of the then Xerox FCU, and has entered a plea of not guilty and is challenging the validity of the evidence against him.
Wilbern was arrested in 2016 and charged with a robbery at the credit union during which he allegedly shot two members inside the branch, one of whom, Raymond Batzel, was struck in the head and later pronounced dead.
Authorities allege Wilbern was wearing a wig and a blue nylon jacket with FBI lettering on the back and that he claimed he was a federal agent before robbing the credit union. Once employed by Xerox, Wilbern had earlier unsuccessfully tried to sue the company over workplace issues.
Following up on a tip Wilbern was arrested in September of 2016 after a former Xerox employee told police he recognized him from enhanced photos and videos from the credit union. Authorities have also said that Wilbern's DNA largely matches that found on the umbrella left behind by the killer-robber.
But Wilbern’s defense attorney, Assistant Federal Public Defender Anne Burger, is challenging the validity of that DNA evidence, saying the "Low Copy Number" DNA testing, or LCN, "is unreliable.” Burger said Wilbern will seek to have the evidence excluded at his trial.
In court this week, Assistant U.S. Attorney Douglas Gregory said that FBI officials now have the ability to access iPhone data, and Wilbern's telephone has been sent to the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia, for a search, according to the Democrat & Chronicle.
However, Gregory told the publication the iPhone's information, to be obtained under a search warrant, can't be extracted for 30 to 60 days because of a backlog there.
Once the information is received, the Federal Public Defender's Office, which represents Wilbern, will need time to also analyze the findings. Given the need for more time, U.S. Magistrate Judge Jonathan Feldman set a date Wednesday of Dec. 1 for Wilbern to return to court, the Democrat & Chronicle reported.