Case ID: f2d_461/html/0534-01.html
Source: Caselaw Access Project
Author: {"author": "PER CURIAM:", "license": "Public Domain", "url": "https://static.case.law/"}
Date Created: 2024-08-24T03:29:51.129683

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Booker T. FORD, Defendant-Appellant.
    No. 71-2788.
    United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.
    June 6, 1972.
    Leslie A. East, West Covina, Cal., for defendant-appellant.
    Stephen Y. Wilson, Eric A. Nobles, Asst. U. S. Attys., William D. Keller, U. S. Atty., Los Angeles, Cal., for plaintiff-appellee.
    Before MERRILL, TRASK, and GOODWIN, Circuit Judges.
   PER CURIAM:

In this appeal from a judgment following conviction for violation of 18 U.S.C. § 472 (attempting to negotiate and possession of a counterfeit federal reserve note), the only issue is whether the spurious twenty-dollar bill was, when found by an arresting officer, the fruit of an unlawful search. We hold that it was not.

The defendant was arrested in the vicinity of a store a few minutes after the storekeeper had called the police to give alarm concerning an attempt to negotiate counterfeit money. The defendant matched the storekeeper’s description of the would-be negotiator, and a cruising officer stopped him in response to the alarm. The key exhibit fell out of defendant’s clothing during a “pat-down” search for weapons. The arrest was based upon probable cause, and the incidental search was lawful.

Affirmed.