Opinion ID: 2775112
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: traffic stop and seizure of evidence

Text: This case involves the April 5, 2012 traffic stop of defendant Handy by City of Miami Gardens police officers. Handy was driving a rental car which the officers impounded and searched. The evidence obtained during the inventory search eventually formed the basis of the federal prosecution in this case. We base our description on the evidence presented at trial, as well as testimony given during a pretrial suppression hearing.1 We highlight the conflicting evidence regarding certain facts.
On April 5, 2012, then-Detective William Wagenmann 2 of the City of Miami Gardens Police Department (“Police Department”) was conducting 1 In considering the denial of a motion to suppress, we may consider both the evidence presented at the suppression hearing and the evidence presented at trial. United States v. Villabona-Garnica, 63 F.3d 1051, 1056 (11th Cir. 1995). 2 Wagenmann was a detective at the time of the traffic stop but had been promoted to the rank of sergeant by the time of the suppression hearing and trial in this case. 2 Case: 13-13232 Date Filed: 01/30/2015 Page: 3 of 44 surveillance as part of a robbery-prevention detail. Detective Wagenmann observed a silver Chevrolet Impala, driven by defendant Handy, with a Georgia license plate and heavily tinted windows circling the surveillance area. The windows of the Impala were so darkly tinted that Detective Wagenmann “couldn’t see anything inside.” The darkly tinted windows violated a Florida law that limited window tinting to a level at which a vehicle’s occupants would be visible. The out-of-state license plate and illegally tinted windows prompted Detective Wagenmann to run the Impala’s license plate, and he thereby learned that the Impala was a rental. In Detective Wagenmann’s experience, the perpetrators of a number of past Miami Gardens robberies and burglaries had used rental cars with heavily tinted windows or out-of-state plates. Therefore, Detective Wagenmann contacted the other members of the surveillance team and alerted them to the Impala’s presence. Detective Cheri Nettles, another member of the surveillance team, spotted the Impala and started following it, after which it sped up and continued erratically circling the area. Detective Nettles then initiated a traffic stop of the Impala. As Handy and Detective Nettles were stopping their respective vehicles, Detective Wagenmann pulled up behind Detective Nettles’s vehicle. Once on foot, Detective Nettles approached the driver’s side of the Impala, while Detective Wagenmann approached the passenger side. Detective Nettles asked for Handy’s 3 Case: 13-13232 Date Filed: 01/30/2015 Page: 4 of 44 driver’s license and registration, and Handy produced her driver’s license and informed Nettles that the Impala was a rental. Detective Wagenmann requested Handy’s permission to search the Impala, but she declined. Detective Wagenmann subsequently moved to the driver’s side of the Impala and asked Handy about the dark tint on the windows. Handy replied that she was an entertainer and did not want to be recognized in her car, so she had dark tint applied to the windows.3 Handy claimed to be in the area visiting a friend, but she was unable to provide an address, a location, or even an area where the friend lived. Handy provided Detective Wagenmann with a copy of the rental contract for the Impala, and in reviewing the contract, he learned that the car was about a week overdue, as the rental contract was only for a single day: March 26 to March 27, 2012. When Detective Wagenmann asked Handy about the expired rental agreement, Handy advised him that she had contacted the rental company, Advantage Rent-a-Car (“Advantage”), and had extended the rental over the phone. B. Detective Wagenmann’s Conversation with Advantage In order to verify the rental contract for the Impala, Detective Wagenmann then called Advantage using a toll-free number and spoke with “Heath” in 3 Subsequently, Detective Wagenmann measured the tint of one of the Impala’s windows, confirmed that the window illegally permitted visible light penetration at a rate of only 4 percent, and issued Handy a citation for illegal tint. 4 Case: 13-13232 Date Filed: 01/30/2015 Page: 5 of 44 Roadside Assistance. Heath checked Advantage’s records and advised Detective Wagenmann that the Impala was overdue and that Advantage had made numerous unsuccessful attempts to contact Handy to have it returned. 4 Heath further stated that no one had contacted Advantage to extend the rental and requested that Detective Wagenmann impound the vehicle so that Advantage could retrieve it.5 At the suppression hearing, Detective Wagenmann testified that, to the best of his recollection, he never told Heath that he suspected the car was involved in a crime or that he wished to tow the car for that reason. Heath’s notes in Advantage’s computer records confirm Detective Wagenmann’s call, stating that Wagenmann “adv[ised that] he has [the Impala] pulled over.” However, in contrast to Detective Wagenmann’s testimony that he never told Heath that he suspected the Impala had been used in a crime, the notes state that, according to Wagenmann, the Impala “is under suspicion of being used in a crime and contract overdue” but that the “renter claims she’s already extended it.” Under “Resolution Description,” Heath noted that he “adv[ised] Det[ective] [Wagenmann] I don’t show it [to] be extended and called . . . [the manager on duty] who adv[ised] he’s been trying to contact cust[omer] to extend it but she 4 Testimony also established that, according to Advantage records, Advantage had attempted multiple times to get credit card authorization for additional charges incurred while the Impala was overdue, but Handy’s credit card was denied each time. 5 The arrest affidavit prepared by Detective Wagenmann avers that the Advantage representative “advised that the car was overdue, and [the representative] wanted it returned. [Handy] was advised that the car was being impounded at the request of the rental car company.” 5 Case: 13-13232 Date Filed: 01/30/2015 Page: 6 of 44 doesn’t answer her phone. Det[ective] [Wagenmann] adv[ised] he’s going to impound the veh[icle].” The “manager on duty” referenced in Heath’s notes was John Scott, the manager for the local Advantage location from which Handy had rented the Impala. The record indicates that, while on the phone with Detective Wagenmann, Heath twice placed Wagenmann on hold to speak with Scott on another line. At the suppression hearing, Scott testified for the defense that, when he and Heath initially spoke, Heath told him that Handy had been stopped by the police and was claiming that her rental contract had been extended and that Heath wished to verify whether the contract had been extended. Scott confirmed that the Impala was overdue but advised Heath to speak directly to Handy and ask her permission to run her credit card to “bring the account up to current,” assuming the card had sufficient funds. However, Heath placed Scott on hold and, after he came back on the line, “[Heath] said the car—the officer said the car—he is want[ing] to take the vehicle because the vehicle had been involved [in] crimes.” Scott testified that, according to Heath, it was the police officer who wanted the car towed. At that point, because “the car was being involved in a crime, [pursuant to the] company’s policy, [Scott] gave the okay to take the vehicle.” Scott and Detective Wagenmann never spoke directly. 6 Case: 13-13232 Date Filed: 01/30/2015 Page: 7 of 44 C. Advantage’s Policies on Overdue Rentals At the suppression hearing, William Kinnebrew, a corporate security manager for Hertz Corporation, which owned Advantage at all relevant times, testified about Advantage’s policies on overdue rentals. Kinnebrew testified that Advantage’s normal policy when contacted by police about an overdue rental car is to effectuate repossession of the car either by having the police impound it or sending a tow truck to retrieve it. In contrast, Scott, Advantage’s manager on duty, testified that his normal practice was to wait 60 days before referring an overdue rental to Advantage’s security department for repossession efforts. According to Scott, Advantage did not have a general policy of requesting a rental be towed anytime a police officer called, and he had at least one experience in which he extended a rental contract over the phone with a customer after the police had called. Scott further testified that, as to Handy in particular, she had rented vehicles from Advantage on a regular basis over a period of one to two years, and that she previously had failed to return a rental car when the contract expired. However, in such instances, Advantage would contact her concerning the expired contract and “most of the time . . . would be able to reach her after a while[,] and she would come in, close it out, pay.” Scott could not recall a time when Handy ever failed to pay for a rental. 7 Case: 13-13232 Date Filed: 01/30/2015 Page: 8 of 44 D. The Impoundment of the Impala and the Police Department’s Policy on Impounded Vehicles Returning to the events of April 5, 2012, Detective Wagenmann—after speaking with Heath at Advantage—advised Handy of Advantage’s statement that the rental contract had not been extended, that Advantage wanted to retrieve the car, and that the police would be impounding the car. Handy became argumentative, stating that she had rented the car, that it was hers, and that Detective Wagenmann could not take it. Because Detective Wagenmann was impounding the Impala, he conducted an inventory search of the car, pursuant to the Police Department’s Policy Manual on Towing Vehicles, Vessels, and Aircraft (“Policy Manual”). This inventory search was primarily to protect the Police Department from liability for any items that may later be claimed missing from the car and to ensure that the car contained no weapons that would be taken to the impound yard. The Policy Manual, which was entered into evidence at the suppression hearing, provided that it was the Police Department’s policy “to safeguard and properly document the contents of . . . towed conveyances.” The Policy Manual directed any employee requesting a tow to do so via “the Communications Center” and to provide certain information, including whether the tow was “[p]olice directed or [pursuant to a] private request.” The Policy Manual also stated, in Section D.2, entitled “Vehicle, Vessel or Aircraft Inventories”: 8 Case: 13-13232 Date Filed: 01/30/2015 Page: 9 of 44 In the course of duty on a day-to-day basis, it is necessary for the protection of the employee and the Department to inventory vehicles, vessels or aircraft being towed and/or stored. Vehicles, vessels or aircraft which are towed as a result of an accident, abandonment, seizure, incident to an arrest, or otherwise detained in storage, and not in the possession of the owner, become the responsibility of the impounding employee. The employee is liable for the vehicle, vessel or aircraft [and] its parts and contents. The contents of the vehicle, vessel or aircraft include, but are not limited to, all packages and containers located within the passenger compartment, the trunk, or any other secured area of the vehicle (i.e., glove box, console, under seat, etc.) To insure that liability does not attach for property located within any vehicle, vessel or aircraft or any package/container, the contents of said vehicle or package/container, whether locked, opened or closed, shall be ascertained and inventoried. Detective Wagenmann testified that his normal procedure was to search and inventory any vehicle that was being towed, even if it was being impounded at the request of a private party and not for criminal conduct. 6 He also testified that it was the policy of the Police Department to have overdue rental cars towed for rental companies, and that the police officers effectuated such tows “[a]ll the time.” E. The Inventory Search During the inventory search of the Impala, Detective Wagenmann found, on the front passenger seat, a cell phone and charger, the packaging for a rechargeable Green Dot debit card, three photocopies of a Florida identification card for “Willie 6 In contrast, Detective Miguel Irizarry of the Police Department, who was called to testify concerning the Policy Manual, testified on cross-examination that he would not search and inventory a vehicle that he was having towed at the request of a private individual or company in the absence of an arrest of the driver or probable cause of a crime. 9 Case: 13-13232 Date Filed: 01/30/2015 Page: 10 of 44 Donnell,” two Wells Fargo bank statements addressed to Donnell, a checkbook, and a package of blank 1099 tax envelopes. 7 Detective Wagenmann removed these items from the Impala and moved them to Detective Nettles’s car, where Handy was waiting. As Detective Wagenmann did so, Handy explained that “she was helping her aunt[, Willie Donnell,] clear up a banking issue, and that’s why she had those items in the vehicle.” Detective Wagenmann then returned to the Impala and began searching the rear passenger area, where he found an Apple laptop computer and charger. He opened the lid of the laptop to check whether the screen had any damage, and the screen lit up and revealed an open Adobe file with a tax return for “Reynardo Britt.” Handy told Detective Wagenmann that the laptop was hers. Detective Wagenmann next inventoried the items in the trunk of the car, which included clothing and a large, black backpack that contained about $2,960 in cash, an HP laptop, a red G-Shock watch, an iPod Nano, deodorant, skin lotion, soaps, cell phone chargers, a hairbrush, and some boxes of prescriptions in the name of “Rochelle Majors.” Handy claimed ownership of the backpack, cash, HP laptop, watch, and iPod, and stated that a friend of hers had given her the prescription to treat her eczema. 7 At trial, Sergeant Wagenmann testified that Green Dot debit cards are commonly used by the government to distribute income tax refunds, and that the cards are often used for fraud. He also explained that the 1099 envelopes are used by employers to provide statements showing what they had paid to independent contractors during the tax year. 10 Case: 13-13232 Date Filed: 01/30/2015 Page: 11 of 44 The backpack also contained some tax documents and forms; pieces of mail in various persons’ names; checks written by Handy; checks written to Handy; a motor vehicle registration; credit card payment envelopes; bank statements in other people’s names; and other financial documents. Specifically, the mail included pieces addressed to “Genia Bennett,” Handy’s uncle; a PayPal card for Donnell; another letter from Wells Fargo to Donnell; correspondence addressed to “Constance Wood”; a tax document sent to “Shauna Gibson”; a W-2 form for “Anthony Randell”; a tax document for “Erica Smith”; a letter from the Department of Treasury to “IME, Inc.,” a company that Handy claimed to own; and letters from Capital One, Credit One Bank, and Chase Bank addressed to Handy. As Detective Wagenmann removed these items and inventoried them in front of Handy, she claimed ownership of any paperwork bearing her name but denied any knowledge of the documents bearing other individuals’ names. Detective Wagenmann found the backpack to further contain chargers and cords for the laptops; three cell phones; a SanDisk flash card; traffic citations; boarding passes; numerous credit cards in the names of Donnell, Handy, and “N Finance”; bank receipts for deposits and withdrawals; and a variety of receipts, including from Walgreens and National Rent-a-Car. Handy claimed that the cell phones were old phones that she no longer used and that the cell phone in the front seat was her current phone. As to the credit cards, Handy said that N Finance was 11 Case: 13-13232 Date Filed: 01/30/2015 Page: 12 of 44 another company that she owned, and she claimed ownership of any of the credit cards bearing N Finance’s name. Handy stated that the cards in Donnell’s name were related to the banking issue she was attempting to clear up for Donnell. Detective Wagenmann also found several rechargeable debit cards that did not bear any name, and Handy denied any knowledge of these cards. Finally, Detective Wagenmann also found in the backpack two red, spiralbound notebooks. When he removed the notebooks, multiple loose pages fell out that contained lists of names, dates of birth, and social security numbers. One of the loose pages alone contained a list of 68 names, dates of birth, races, and social security numbers. The pages of the notebooks also contained lists of credit card account numbers, expiration dates, security codes, bank account numbers, bank routing numbers, and personal identification numbers, and personal information about Rochelle Majors, including an address in Oklahoma. Handy denied any knowledge of the notebooks or the pages contained in them. As Detective Wagenmann inventoried the items from the Impala, he began to suspect that fraud was involved, so he contacted the Police Department’s fraud detective to respond to the scene. Detective Wagenmann eventually contacted federal authorities and handed over investigation of the case. 12 Case: 13-13232 Date Filed: 01/30/2015 Page: 13 of 44