WORCESTER, MA—Rebuffed in their efforts to scrutinize the cellphone of the man charged with setting the fire that killed Worcester firefighter Christopher Roy, authorities were recently given clearance to target the suspect's iCloud account.
According to a search warrant granted by Worcester Superior Court Monday, police were allowed to access 22-year-old Momoh Kamara's iCloud account — the file hosting, storage and sharing services provided by Apple Inc. of California.
The warrant gives access to iCloud records associated with Kamara, his email, and cell phone, for review of all records and information, including where the account was accessed, and data storage in connection with location, from midnight through 12 p.m. Dec. 9, 2018, the morning of the fire.
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The search warrant goes on to request evidence "indicating how and when the account was accessed or used, to determine the chronological and geographic context of account access, use and events relating to the fire at 5-7 Lowell Street."
Kamara, of West Boylston, was secretly indicted in March on charges of second-degree murder, arson, armed burglary and malicious damage to a motor vehicle.
Roy, 36, died of smoke inhalation after he was trapped on the second floor of the three-story home at 5-7 Lowell St. during efforts to extinguish the blaze on Dec. 9, 2018. The fire at the six-unit structure was reported at 3:58 a.m.
In December, Kamara's lawyer, Blake J. Rubin, filed a motion asking the court to suppress as evidence against Kamara any information that investigators obtained as a result of what the defense lawyer said was the unlawful, warrantless seizure of his client's cellphone by Worcester police on Dec. 19, 2018.
Judge David Ricciardone granted the request.
Prosecutors have said Kamara was linked to the deadly blaze by video surveillance and Uber, Lyft and bank records. They have also said that Kamara was asked to leave 7 Lowell St. in the spring of 2018 after a dispute with his roommates over property.
Viewing surveillance footage from the area shows an individual wearing gloves and a dark-hooded sweatshirt pulled tight around his head, and with a backpack on, walked away from the building three minutes before residents reported the fire, according to detectives.
Video from Clark University showed the same man get out of a Cadillac ATS in a parking lot at Downing and Florence streets at about 2:15 a.m. the morning of the fire. The car was traced to an Uber driver, and the rider information traced to Kamara, who had been picked up in West Boylston.
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