Opinion ID: 47335
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Thompson’s Arrest

Text: In June 2003, a confidential informant (“CI”) told Corporal Roy Cuthkelvin with the Mobile County, Alabama Sheriff’s Department about a man known as “P” who used a 2000 Mercedes and a 2003 Cadillac with Massachusetts registrations to transport kilograms of cocaine from Atlanta to Mobile. On July 14, 2003, Cuthkelvin and another officer observed a brand new Cadillac and a newer-model Mercedes, both with Massachusetts license plates and identical fancy wheels, in the parking lot of an Intown Suites motel. The officers noted the tag numbers and learned that the cars were registered to a Appellant Patrick Thompson. Through the motel, the officers also determined that there was no guest registered as Patrick Thompson, but that one car was listed as belonging to Morris Parsons in room 241. Later that evening, officers stopped the Mercedes, driven by Thompson, 2 after it entered the motel parking lot. Thompson denied staying at the motel and indicated that a friend had a room on the third floor. Thompson consented to a patdown search, during which officers found four or five hundred dollars and a key to room 241. Thompson also consented to a search of the Mercedes and the Cadillac. In the trunk of one car, officers found a plastic bag containing thirteen thousand dollars in cash, a large quantity of jewelry, a plane ticket in the name of Patrick Thompson and some documents bearing the name Morris Parsons. Cuthkelvin obtained a search warrant for room 241. During the search, officers discovered, among other things, 1.5 kilograms of cocaine, 217 grams of crack cocaine, digital scales and a receipt in Thompson’s name for a storage unit in Massachusetts. Thompson was arrested. In a taped phone conversation from jail shortly after his arrest, Thompson asked a woman named Tanya Janice Lee to empty the Massachusetts storage unit. Lee did as Thompson asked and removed a suitcase containing money, a rusty gun and some crack cocaine. Lee disposed of the gun, gave the crack to Thompson’s brother, gave most of the money to Thompson’s father and eventually turned the suitcase with the remaining cash over to the FBI.