The CIA is known to have used fake poop for passing information, I don’t think I ever heard of them bugging a diaper bag, though.

The Ogden, Utah, Standard Examiner reports that slipping a recorder into a child’s diaper bag was not a good idea for Teri Anne Smith.

FARMINGTON — A judge ruled that even though a woman claimed she only wanted to record conversations between her ex-husband and children, the electronic eavesdropping charges against her will stand.

For more than an hour Thursday, 2nd District Judge Robert Dale heard arguments by defense attorney Rebecca Skordas and Deputy Davis County Attorney Richard Larsen about whether the charges against Teri Anne Smith are valid.

Smith, 37, is charged with three counts of wiretapping or intercepting electronic communications, all third-degree felonies. Another hearing is scheduled for Aug. 27.

Smith secretly recorded conversations between her ex-husband and her two children in 2012, according to court documents.

Skordas said under federal and state law, a parent has the right to record conversations between a child and another adult if the parent believes the child is in danger. She said because Smith believed her children were in danger, she did not break the law… No charges have been filed against the ex-husband.

Dale said in his ruling that putting a recording device in a diaper bag in hopes of recording a conversation between the other parent and a child is a “shotgun approach.”

Tactical Diaper Bag (spy devices not included)

He said he was concerned there may have been other people in the home who expected privacy and would have had their conversations recorded without their knowledge.

Larsen said in court that Smith sent a recording device in her child’s diaper bag nine times. He said if law enforcement personnel tried to bug someone’s home to hear conversations between two people without their knowledge, “they’d be sued.”

Police said Smith’s ex-husband picked up his children for visitation in February 2012 from her home. After he arrived at his Layton home, he saw a “red light vibrating inside a diaper bag and discovered a recorder,” police said in charging documents.

The ex-husband then “had a conversation” with Smith about the recording device. A few days later, he found another recording device in one of the children’s coat pockets, police said.

[Read more]

As a new grandfather, I can appreciate the appearance of tactical diaper bags on the market- check out one model now available from Think Geek in the video below. Now, if they would just make one with RF shielding and audio isolation it could be safe from eavesdropping…