Back in Februrary, a dazed and confused Dan Henry — also known by his handle ‘SuperDaE’ — answered his door to a squad of Western Australian Police officers and a representative from the FBI. They were there to raid Henry’s home in search of the Xbox Durango development console he had attempted to sell on eBay as a prank. After spending months in legal limbo, Henry now expects to be charged on Monday, but not for offences relating to the Durango. Instead, he might only be charged with owning a stun gun.
Henry has been sitting in his apartment for months now, waiting the results of the multi-jurisdictional investigation by the Western Australian Police Service and the FBI in the US over his ownership of the Xbox Durango development console from Microsoft. Before police raided his home, Henry had spent a spell talking to serious characters from Microsoft HQ about his attempted sale of the Durango development kits on eBay.
SuperDaE claims that it was all just a prank gone wrong.
Months went by, Henry heard nothing. At least that was until the Xbox One launch took place. WA Police have now requested a meeting with Henry and his legal team on Monday with the expectation that charges will be laid. Those charges are unclear at this stage, because according to Henry and his legal eagles, the original search warrant is flawed.
“My lawyers have said that the warrant has discrepancies and from what the cops said [and] they aren’t even charging me for what they came there for,” Henry told us today.
Reportedly, the only charges that will be laid are in relation to the possession of a device similar to a stun gun. Henry tells us it’s not a stun gun, just something that looks like one that he uses for work as a security and network engineer.
“The metal electrodes on a stun gun are used to deliver an electric shock. With my profession, it’s more likely that I’d own something with the ability to deliver an electric shock for the purpose of research as opposed to ‘harm/defend’ oneself. You’d be surprised what an electrical shock can do when applied to certain things,” he added.
Could it be true? Could the search and seizure of SuperDaE’s property in relation to alleged computer crime fall apart?
We spoke to the Western Australian Police Service about the case, who told us generally that if charges haven’t yet been laid then they couldn’t discuss specifics surrounding the case, adding that we’d have to wait until Monday, too. We’ll update you if we hear anything more from the officers in the Computer Crime Unit.
In the meantime, Henry is keeping his spirits up about the Xbox One and his Durango stunts.
“I probably gave Microsoft better PR than their tent did.”