Opinion ID: 4557823
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Plaintiffs’ Search and Seizure Allegations

Text: In a separate lawsuit, Plaintiffs sued Defendant Lieutenant Richard Sanchez, alleging that he falsified information in his application for a warrant to search Plaintiffs’ homes and illegally Nos. 19-1857/1870/1882 Marvaso, et al. v. Sanchez, et al. Page 5 searched their homes without probable cause to do so, in violation of the Fourth Amendment. See Marvaso v. Sanchez, No. 4:18-cv-12193, 2019 WL 3003681 (E.D. Mich. July 10, 2019). The first half of Plaintiffs’ complaint against Sanchez essentially mirrors their complaint against Reddy Sr., Reddy Jr. and Adams. They alleged the circumstances surrounding the fire and Brian Woelke’s death described above. They said that within two days of the fire, Adams concluded that the fire was not caused by accelerants. They also alleged that two other investigators found the cause of the fire to be “undetermined.” Although they did not include their allegations regarding the conspiratorial conversation between Adams, Reddy Jr., and Reddy Sr., they did allege that sometime in November 2013, despite receiving no new evidence, Adams changed his conclusion regarding the cause of the fire to “incendiary.” In four paragraphs, Plaintiffs then asserted their allegations against Lieutenant Sanchez: 41. On or about December 12, 2013, Defendant, Sanchez, swore out an affidavit in support of a search warrant to seize numerous items from the homes of George and Mary Marvaso, Geo Marvaso, and Sunday Gains. 42. The affidavit to support the search warrant lacked the necessary specificity to warrant a person of reasonable caution to conclude that evidence of criminal conduct would be in the stated place to be searched. 43. The facts to support the search warrant were knowingly false or were made with reckless disregard for the truth and did not provide probable cause for the search warrant and the invasion of Plaintiffs’ homes. 44. But for Sanchez[’s] intentionally and/or recklessly-made false statements, there would have been no probable cause to secure a search warrant, because there would have been no evidence of a crime. (No. 4:18-cv-12193, R. 1, Pg. ID 10 (emphasis removed).) Plaintiffs did not specify which statements in Sanchez’s affidavit were supposedly false.