Opinion ID: 814751
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: facts

Text: The factual background is based on testimony presented at the suppression hearing before the district court. In 2009, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, in conjunction with the Drug Enforcement Case: 11-40783 Document: 00512099859 Page: 2 Date Filed: 01/03/2013 No. 11-40783 Administration, was conducting an investigation into the drug trafficking activities of Albert Figueroa Nava (“Figueroa”) in Laredo, Texas, and elsewhere. Agents1 utilized physical surveillance as well as Title III wiretaps, and had already seized several hundred kilograms of cocaine and several million dollars of drug proceeds by December 2009. Based on their surveillance, agents believed that on December 11, 2009, Figueroa and Christino Dominguez (“Dominguez”) loaded approximately twenty kilograms of cocaine into a secret compartment in a red pickup truck and parked the truck on a public street in front of a Holiday Inn in Laredo, with a car carrier trailer attached to it. Agents installed a GPS device on the underside of the truck while it was parked. On December 12, 2009, agents observed Dominguez meeting with Andres near the truck, and Andres subsequently driving the truck away. For various reasons, agents believed the truck would be driven to Chicago. The agents preferred to let the truck leave Laredo without seizing it to avoid jeopardizing the ongoing investigation and to discover who would be receiving it. The agents ceased physical surveillance of the truck around 10:00 p.m. on December 12, 2009. However, around 4:00 a.m. on December 13, 2009, the GPS system notified agents that the truck had begun to move. Agents contacted the nearby border patrol checkpoint to request that the truck not be searched, and continued to monitor the truck’s location by GPS. When it became clear that the truck was heading for Chicago on I-55, agents contacted the Illinois State Police. The agents preferred that the drugs in the truck be discovered in a traffic stop, which would make it unnecessary to reveal the existence of the federal investigation. Agents informed Illinois State Police Sergeant Jamal Simington (“Simington”) that a credible confidential informant (“CI”) would soon be 1 Because the identity of specific federal agents is not relevant to the analysis, all federal agents involved in the Figueroa investigation and the present case are simply referred to as “agents.” 2 Case: 11-40783 Document: 00512099859 Page: 3 Date Filed: 01/03/2013 No. 11-40783 contacting him with information about a vehicle traveling to Chicago, but did not say anything about the Laredo investigation. The CI, assisted by agents, placed a call to Simington and described the truck, explaining that it contained narcotics and was heading for Chicago. The CI called Simington several more times to provide updated information on the truck’s location, as revealed by the GPS surveillance. On the morning of December 14, 2009, as the truck approached Chicago from the south, Simington and several members of his team, including Sergeant Chad Brody (“Brody”), were staged at various points along I-55. Simington was positioned at the southernmost point, at mile marker 241 near Bloomington, in an unmarked car. Brody was positioned at mile marker 263 in a marked car with a drug-sniffing dog. Around 5:45 a.m., Simington observed the truck pass him on I-55 and began to follow it. Simington observed that the trailer attached to the truck was bouncing or swerving within its lane in a potentially dangerous manner, and that the trailer’s taillights were not operating consistently. Simington also informed the other members of his team that he had observed the truck. The truck passed Brody around 6:19 a.m. and Brody began to follow it. Brody observed that the trailer’s taillights were “flicker[ing] as if there was a mechanical issue” and that the trailer was swaying back and forth within its lane. Brody initiated a traffic stop based on improper lane usage and improper lighting. The truck initially stopped on a narrow shoulder, so Brody directed the truck to pull over to a ramp to get away from the interstate traffic.2 Brody approached Andres, who was driving the truck, and requested his driver’s license, registration, and insurance. Brody returned to his car and ran 2 Brody testified that the video camera in his patrol car automatically starts recording when the emergency lights are activated. However, the video submitted into evidence does not begin until the truck is already stopped on the side of the freeway. Brody testified that he was informed after the fact that “the system performed some kind of soft reboot to where it didn’t initially start recording right away.” 3 Case: 11-40783 Document: 00512099859 Page: 4 Date Filed: 01/03/2013 No. 11-40783 a check on Andres’ license. Brody determined that Andres had a valid license, a clean driving record, and no outstanding warrants, and decided to issue a written warning for the traffic offenses. Brody wrote a warning ticket and returned to the truck to speak with Andres. Brody asked Andres to get out of the truck so that he could talk to Andres about the taillight problem. Andres inspected the electrical connection between the truck and the trailer. Brody told Andres that he would give him a warning ticket and handed him a clipboard to sign the ticket. While Andres was signing the ticket, Brody asked him where he was coming from. Andres replied that he was coming from Joliet, where he had dropped off a car. However, Brody knew that Simington had spotted the truck south of Joliet, and that Andres would not have had time to stop in Joliet. Brody also observed at this point that Andres began to fidget and move his feet and arms around, which Brody interpreted as nervousness. Brody asked Andres who was in the truck with him. Andres responded that it was his stepdaughter, but he did not know her last name. Brody then patted down Andres, checked inside his jacket for weapons, and went to talk to the passenger, Noemi Gutierrez (“Gutierrez”). She stated that she and Andres had come from Joliet, where they had dropped off a van on Ruby Street. Brody returned to speak to Andres and asked him if he had any drugs in the truck. Andres denied that he did, and said “go ahead and check.” Brody asked permission to search for drugs with his dog, and Andres consented. The dog alerted to the presence of drugs within about thirty seconds. Officers ultimately found over twenty kilograms of cocaine in a hidden compartment in the truck. Before the district court, Andres moved to suppress the drug evidence, arguing that Brody did not initially have probable cause to stop the truck and that the duration and scope of the stop were not justified by the alleged traffic 4 Case: 11-40783 Document: 00512099859 Page: 5 Date Filed: 01/03/2013 No. 11-40783 offenses. The district court denied this motion in an oral ruling following the suppression hearing. Andres then waived his right to jury trial and consented to a bench trial based on stipulated facts in order to preserve his right to appeal the suppression issue. The district court found Andres guilty of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute more than five kilograms of cocaine, in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1), 841(b)(1)(A) and 846. The presentence report recommended a two-level sentencing enhancement pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 3B1.4, “Using a Minor to Commit a Crime,” because Andres and Gutierrez had brought Gutierrez’s four-year-old daughter on the drive to Chicago “to make the appearance of a family who was traveling and thus to avoid the detection of the narcotics that were being concealed in the vehicle.” Andres filed an objection to this enhancement. The district court overruled the objection, finding that Andres and Gutierrez brought along Gutierrez’s daughter to “giv[e] the impression that this was a family outing.” The district court sentenced Andres to 135 months of imprisonment followed by five years of supervised release. Andres filed a timely notice of appeal.