Opinion ID: 3065484
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Facts Leading to Discovery of Stash House

Text: Martha Ramirez-Elizondo, her father Pedro MontejanoQuintero, Adolfo Villagomez-Alonso, and approximately eighteen other smuggled aliens were housed at 362 Wilson Street, Unit 4, a two-bedroom unit near Brawley, California. Ramirez-Esqueda and Angel Rivas-Pozos, a codefendant who has not appealed his conviction or sentence, watched over the aliens. The aliens were told not to leave the house and not to make any noise. On the morning of December 2, 2005, Ramirez-Elizondo, Montejano-Quintero, and VillagomezAlonso slipped out of Unit 4 when one of the guards went into the bathroom. While leaving the house, they ran into Ramirez-Esqueda, who told them not to leave. RamirezElizondo had taken a knife from the kitchen, which she kept visible when they met Ramirez-Esqueda. Although RamirezEsqueda told them not to leave, they ignored him and left anyway. They went into Brawley, which was about two miles from Unit 4. Border Patrol Agents Felipe Rodriguez and Luis Martinez observed the three aliens and followed them to Garcia’s Market. Martinez approached Montejano-Quintero and Villagomez-Alonso, and identified himself as a Border Patrol agent. Montejano-Quintero and Villagomez-Alonso walked 3204 UNITED STATES v. REYES-BOSQUE away from the agents and joined Ramirez-Elizondo inside Garcia’s Market; the agents followed and asked them to come outside, where they asked to see their legal documents. After the aliens admitted that they did not have any documentation and that they were in the country illegally, the agents arrested them. When asked where they were coming from, RamirezElizondo told the agents that they had escaped from a house a couple of miles away, and that one of the caretakers tried to prevent them from leaving. She told them that she had been there for a few days, was uncomfortable in the house, and did not know when she would get to leave. She also told the agents that there were approximately twenty more people in the house and offered to take the agents to the place where she had been held. Because Martinez knew that this particular block was dangerous, based on his knowledge that there had recently been a shootout in the area,1 the agents called for backup before going into any of the units. While waiting for backup, Martinez and Rodriguez, who were dressed in plain clothes, put on bullet-proof vests. Ramirez-Elizondo identified the last unit, Unit 4, as the place where she was held. She also told the agents that she did not want to go inside, because she was afraid. After fifteen to twenty minutes, backup agent Robert Perez arrived. The three agents saw Rivas-Pozos, whom RamirezElizondo identified as the caretaker of the house where they were held. Martinez approached Rivas-Pozos, identified himself as a Border Patrol agent, and asked him to identify his citizenship. Rivas-Pozos stated that he was a United States citizen and gave Martinez his identification, which listed his residence as 362 Wilson Street. He told Martinez, however, that he lived in El Centro, California, and that he was visiting his godfather, Reyes, who lived at 362 Wilson Street, Unit 3. After this conversation, the agents split up. Perez went to Unit 3 to corroborate Rivas-Pozos’s story, while Martinez and 1 Some agents testified that it was their understanding that the shootout had occurred at this address. UNITED STATES v. REYES-BOSQUE 3205 Rodriguez went to Unit 4 to investigate the information Ramirez-Elizondo had provided. Units 3 and 4 are adjacent to each other, but are not adjoining.