Opinion ID: 812319
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Initial Criminal Proceedings

Text: In 1998, Cruz-Sosa pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute marijuana and cocaine, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 846, and distributing cocaine, in violation of § 841(a)(1). He received a sentence of 135 months’ imprisonment, followed by 5 years of supervised release. As a condition of supervised release, Cruz-Sosa was prohibited from possessing any firearm. Cruz-Sosa began his term of supervised release in March 2008. On July 1, 2011, Cruz-Sosa’s federal probation officer, Nelson Valenzuela, was told by an informant that he feared Cruz-Sosa because the latter “often possesses a firearm which he carries in the small of his back.” Because Valenzuela knew that Cruz-Sosa was also on probation for a Florida conviction for third-degree theft, Valenzuela shared the tip with Christine Bullins, a state 1 We deny the government’s motion to supplement the record on appeal. 2 Case: 11-15436 Date Filed: 11/21/2012 Page: 3 of 17 probation officer. Around eleven o’clock that same evening, Bullins and other probation and local officers drove to the house of Cruz-Sosa’s girlfriend, Janet Rosillo-Dominguez (“Rosillo”), where Cruz-Sosa had been living for approximately five weeks. Bullins and another state probation officer, Freddy Vidal, entered Rosillo’s house and followed her to a bedroom that she shared with Cruz-Sosa. The officers found Cruz-Sosa lying on the bed. While Vidal went to search Cruz-Sosa’s truck, Bullins searched the bedroom closet and found a loaded .45 caliber Taurus pistol with a full magazine and extra bullets, all concealed in a fanny pack.