Opinion ID: 6351771
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Tracking Order

Text: Boyle passed along the cell phone number to FBI Agent Keszei. FBI Staff Operations Specialist Graff researched the number and determined that it was assigned to a Sprint 4 No. 21-1614 phone owned by “Dewayne Lewis.” The phone was pre-paid, so there was no billing address. Graff searched for Dewayne Lewises in Indianapolis and found one who was born in 1977, had a prior drug conviction, and was wanted on an outstanding warrant (the “1977 Lewis”). The 1977 Lewis is not the Defendant, who was born in 1974 and did not have an outstanding warrant at the time. Complicating matters, Boyle incorrectly identified a photograph of the 1977 Lewis as “Nap.” Both the 1977 Lewis and Defendant Lewis are black. On January 30, 2015, an officer with the U.S. Marshals’ Violent Fugitive Task Force applied for and received a court order under the Stored Communications Act, 18 U.S.C. § 2703(d). The application sought precision location-based information for Nap’s cell phone, including cell-site activations, “twenty-four hour a day assistance … to triangulate target location,” and “[h]istorical call detail records for 30 days,” among other things. In support of the application, Officer Harshman wrote: Applicant certiﬁes that the information sought is relevant and material to a fugitive investigation, to wit: that the INDIANA STATE POLICE [and] US MARSHALS SERVICE are conducting an in- vestigation to locate DEWAYNE LEWIS, a fugi- tive from justice. DEWAYNE LEWIS has an active warrant for a PAROLE VIOLATION on an orig- inal charge of DEALING COCAINE, IC: 35-48- 4-1. On January 30, 2015, Trp. Brian Harshman was contacted by FBI S/A James Keszei refer- ence [sic] assisting in locating and arresting DEWAYNE LEWIS. DEWAYNE LEWIS has an active warrant out of the Indiana Department of No. 21-1614 5 Corrections for a parole violation. S/A Keszei advised that he is currently involved in an in- vestigation involving a drug traﬃcking organi- zation in which DEWAYNE LEWIS is involved. S/A Keszei advised that during the course of the investigation it has been learned through in- formants and additional investigations that DEWAYNE LEWIS is utilizing a cellular tele- phone with an associated number of (317)507- 8010. TFO Harshman was able to utilize law en- forcement contacts within the Sprint Wireless Law Enforcement Compliance Department that [sic] (317)507-8010 does indeed belong to their company. Since DEWAYNE LEWIS is utilizing this cellular phone with associated number (317)507-8010, it is believed that the requested records and information will assist oﬃcers in lo- cating and arresting DEWAYNE LEWIS. (emphases added). On January 30, an Indiana state court judge granted the application “for the period of January 1, 2015 to the present and extending thirty (30) days past the date of this Order.” In doing so, the judge found “that the in- formation likely to be obtained is relevant and material to an ongoing criminal investigation.” Sprint began providing location information for the cell phone sometime on the morning of February 3, 2015. Sprint’s data showed that Nap’s phone was within a 1,099-meter radius (roughly two-thirds of a mile) of Greenwood, a suburb of Indianapolis. After 11:34 a.m., the phone was no longer connected to Sprint’s network, possibly because the phone had been turned off. The phone reconnected to the network at 6 No. 21-1614 3:59 p.m. By that point, as explained below, officers had already zeroed in on Lewis’s likely location. Between 3:59 p.m. and 4:21 p.m., Sprint reported that the phone was still within the same area of Greenwood, but Officer Harshman was no longer receiving email updates from Sprint. In any event, after approximately 3:00 p.m., Officer Harshman did not review the location data because he and the other officers were following another lead.