Opinion ID: 4536868
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Grey’s Arrest and Execution of the Inspection

Text: Warrant After the inspection warrant was obtained, Deputy Chappell was contacted and placed in charge of assisting the City with the inspection warrant because he was the deputy leading the criminal investigation of Grey. Sergeant Wolanski testified that before the execution of the inspection warrant, either Deputy Lopez or Deputy Chappell created an operations plan because they were in charge of the criminal investigation. Wolanski directed the deputies to arrest Grey if they encountered him outside of the home while they were helping with the inspection warrant. Wolanski also intended to interview Grey about the criminal investigation during the execution of the inspection warrant. 14 UNITED STATES V. GREY On May 3, 2018, City employees and the entire Sherriff’s LANCAP team, consisting of nine LASD deputies, went to Grey’s house shortly before 10:00 a.m. Wolanski explained that the LANCAP team provides security for City employees in the performance of their duties, and thus they were there that morning “to assist the City of Lancaster personnel with executing an inspection warrant at that location by making sure that the property was safe before inspectors began their work.” Among the deputies present were Deputy Chappell, his supervisor, Sergeant Wolanski, and Deputy Armando Lopez. At least two officers, Sergeant Wolanski and Deputy Lopez, were wearing body cameras that day, though the body camera footage shows that they turned their body cameras on and off at various times. At the evidentiary hearing, Corbett testified that it is the City’s policy to have at least one LASD deputy accompany an inspection but that she did not know LASD planned to send nine armed deputies nor did she request the presence of that many law enforcement personnel.
Sergeant Wolanski arrived at the property and waited around the corner while another LANCAP deputy conducted surveillance of the property. Soon after Wolanski arrived, the other deputy saw Grey standing in his driveway. Wolanski “made up a ruse” that the officers needed to inspect his welding equipment and thus they needed Grey to open the gate so they could inspect his equipment. Sergeant Wolanski initially stated in his declaration that when Grey opened the gate, another deputy placed him under arrest for negligent discharge of a firearm and felon in possession of a firearm. At the evidentiary hearing, however, Wolanski testified that by “arrest” he “mistakenly meant detention.” There is no body camera footage of this encounter. After handcuffing UNITED STATES V. GREY 15 Grey, officers placed him in the back of a patrol car. Sergeant Wolanski turned on his body camera and asked Grey to identify himself for the camera. Grey sat handcuffed and shirtless in the back of the patrol car while Wolanski asked him if he had any large sums of cash or valuables in the house, whether he had any weapons inside the house, and whether he had anything in the house that was going to hurt the officers. Grey answered no to all the questions and asked Wolanski why he was searching the house. Wolanski did not answer, shut the door to the car, and turned off his body camera. Deputy Lopez stated in his declaration that he arrived shortly after Grey’s arrest.
House Around 10:00 that morning, “before executing the warrant and as part of [their] orders to provide security for the inspection, LASD deputies entered the house to look around and determine whether there were other individuals or any dangerous conditions inside the house that could harm City of Lancaster inspectors when they executed the warrant.” Before entering the house, Wolanski turned on his body camera. The deputies drew their weapons and approached the house. Using Grey’s keys, they entered the house with their weapons drawn. The body camera captured an officer using a flashlight attached to his gun to search behind and next to the couch in the living room. The body camera turned off as the officers started to move into the other rooms of the house. Sergeant Wolanski and Deputy Lopez stated that they viewed firearms and ammunition in plain view during their survey of Grey’s house. At the evidentiary hearing, Wolanski testified that this “walk-through” took a “[v]ery short time” 16 UNITED STATES V. GREY – “a couple of minutes,” but Lopez stated that it took 15 to 20 minutes to complete. Both Wolanski and Lopez testified that they did not touch any items in the house during this survey. After determining that the house was safe, the officers went outside to await a criminal search warrant to search Grey’s residence. Deputy Lopez drafted the affidavit for the criminal search warrant. In his affidavit, Lopez stated that “while assisting the City of Lancaster with an abatement warrant . . . [he] saw in plain view, multiple handguns (one of which was clearly loaded), rifles, firearm parts, and ammunition while inside.” Lopez also stated that he observed drug paraphernalia and a large amount of an off-white crystalline substance resembling methamphetamine in plain view. Lopez added that the controlled substance was “in plain view on the coffee table of the living room,” that “ammunition and firearm accessories were seen on multiple tables throughout the location in plain view,” and that “multiple firearms were seen on the floor and on a desk inside of one of the bedrooms.” Based on these observations and Grey’s status as a convicted felon, Lopez sought a search warrant for Grey’s house. Id.
Bailey and McNutt remained outside and, after the property was secured, they went inside to conduct the code enforcement inspection. At the evidentiary hearing, Bailey testified that this inspection began sometime between 10:00 and 11:00 a.m. The City found numerous public nuisance conditions, including hazardous and non-permitted construction, electrical extensions, and heating equipment, and significant accumulations of junk throughout the premises and inside the residence, which posed a fire hazard UNITED STATES V. GREY 17 and impeded emergency egress through the house. Based on these findings, the City issued an administrative order to vacate Grey’s property on June 5, 2018.
Based on Lopez’s application and supporting affidavit, a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge issued a search warrant for Grey’s property that day. At approximately 2:00 p.m., LASD searched Grey’s property and found several firearms, ammunition, and a large amount of currency.
At some point after Grey’s initial arrest, Grey was transported to the Lancaster Sheriff Station, where a detective read Grey his Miranda rights and interviewed him about the devices and powders found inside his home. Although the record does not specify a time, the detective stated in his report that he was called to the Sheriff Station because LASD deputies located items they believed to be components of a pipe bomb following the service of a search warrant. Sergeant Wolanski and Deputy Lopez also interviewed Grey about his possession of firearms and ammunition.