Opinion ID: 171200
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Motion to Suppress Evidence Obtained Through Wiretaps (Sergio Zapata-Hernandez and Jaime Zapata)

Text: Sergio and Jaime challenge the district court's refusal to suppress evidence obtained through the wiretaps, contending that the government had not demonstrated that the wiretaps were necessary. We review for an abuse of discretion a district court's determination that a wiretap was necessary. United States v. Ramirez-Encarnacion, 291 F.3d 1219, 1222 (10th Cir.2002). Each wiretap application must include a full and complete statement as to whether or not other investigative procedures have been tried and failed or why they reasonably appear to be unlikely to succeed if tried or to be too dangerous. 18 U.S.C. § 2518(1)(c). This rule is known as the necessity requirement. See United States v. Mondragon, 52 F.3d 291, 293 (10th Cir.1995). In addition, the district judge issuing the wiretap order must find that normal investigative procedures have been tried and have failed or reasonably appear to be unlikely to succeed if tried or to be too dangerous. 18 U.S.C. § 2518(3)(c). Normal investigative procedures include standard visual and aural surveillance, questioning witnesses and participants in the crime (including through the use of grand juries), search warrants, and infiltration of criminal enterprises by undercover agents or confidential informants. United States v. Killingsworth, 117 F.3d 1159, 1163 (10th Cir.1997). The purpose of the necessity requirement is to ensure that wiretapping, which is relatively intrusive compared with other investigative methods, is not used in situations where traditional investigative techniques would be sufficient to expose the criminal activity. United States v. Edwards, 69 F.3d 419, 429 (10th Cir.1995). Evidence obtained through a wiretap order that does not meet the necessity requirement must be suppressed. 18 U.S.C. § 2518(10)(a). The government is not required, as part of the necessity showing under § 2518, to exhaust all other conceivable investigative procedures before resorting to wiretapping. Edwards, 69 F.3d at 429 (quotations omitted). Thus, in examining necessity challenges to wiretap orders, we have upheld the order where: (1) several investigatory methods had been utilized prior to resort to wiretapping; (2) normal investigative techniques had been frustrated by various problems local police were unable to overcome; (3) increased visual surveillance would have increased the possibility of detection; and (4) potential witnesses were unwilling to testify in court because of fear of reprisal. Id. at 429-30 (quotations and internal citations omitted). In this case, the government applied for and obtained orders authorizing seven wiretaps over the course of its investigation: (1) on a number for a cell phone allegedly in Carlos's possession; (2) on a number for a cell phone allegedly in Fabian's possession; (3) on a number for a cell phone to which Fabian had allegedly switched; (4) on another number for a cell phone allegedly in Carlos's possession; and (5) on three numbers for push-to-talk cell phones allegedly subscribed to by Arnoldo. Each of the applications for the orders included an affidavit in support of the application. The affidavits are detailed and extensive; some are more than sixty pages long. The first affidavit, attested to by DEA Agent Michael Moore, was submitted in support of the first two wiretap applications. In that affidavit, Agent Moore explained that the goals of the investigation were identifying the organization's source of drugs, learning the organization's practices and techniques, and identifying fully all of the participants in the alleged conspiracy. He also stated why traditional law enforcement techniques had failed, had met with limited success, reasonably appeared unlikely to succeed, or were too dangerous. As to the use of confidential informants, for example, he stated that Carlos had demonstrated a reluctance to do business with unknown persons and that the organization consisted of close knit family members who tend to deal amongst themselves. Agent Moore did not know of any sources who might infiltrate the organization. Similarly, witness interviews had provided little information about the extent and practices of the conspiracy. Agent Moore further stated that using grand jury subpoenas would not be useful, as witnesses likely would invoke their right to remain silent unless provided with immunity; this, explained Agent Moore, would undermine the investigation because it would require immunization of the conspiracy's most culpable members. Surveillance had also not succeeded in exposing the parameters of the conspiracy. Agent Moore stated that members of the organization were extremely surveillance conscious and lived in affluent neighborhoods where surveillance was usually not possible without alerting the suspicions of residents and members of the organization. Agent Moore added that the government had decided against seeking search warrants for the homes of Carlos and Sergio. According to Agent Moore, the government had only limited knowledge of what evidence might be found in the homes. The government also believed that Carlos and Sergio were not likely to keep evidence in their homes for long periods of time. Thus, a search warrant would likely be executed at a time when drugs and other evidence would not be present, which would only alert the organization to the government's investigation. Agent Moore stated that the use of pen registers and toll records had not helped to identify the extent and operation of the organization. Six confiscations of trash had produced no useful evidence. An examination of public records had provided useful corroboration of informants' statements but had yielded no information regarding the overall objectives of the investigation. Either Agent Moore or DEA Agent Michael Tonozzi attested to the affidavits in support of additional wiretaps. Those affidavits incorporated by reference the statements regarding the necessity of the wiretaps contained in Agent Moore's first affidavit. The affidavits also included additional statements relevant to the necessity requirement. For example, in his affidavit in support of the third wiretap, Agent Tonozzi stated that members of the organization said they were laying low and scared to continue with business because of the threat of police investigation. Thus, because members of the organization were reducing or more thoroughly concealing their activities, Agent Tonozzi explained that extensive surveillance and search warrants were unlikely to produce information about the extent of the organization. Sergio and Jaime argue that the affidavits did not demonstrate necessity and that other less intrusive techniques would haveand indeed didsuffice in this case. Specifically, they contend that traditional investigative techniques had produced sufficient information regarding their involvement in the conspiracy for the government to arrest and prosecute them individually. The government claims that traditional law enforcement methods did not succeed in achieving the goals of the investigation, which included identifying all members of the conspiracy and uncovering how the conspiracy operated. The government asserts that the objective of the investigation was not simply to arrest individual members of the conspiracy, such as Sergio and Jaime. The goal was to gather information and admissible evidence about the entire organization, including the suppliers, distributers, importers, and transporters. The government states that the affidavits showed how traditional tools proved ineffective in pursuit of that objective. We agree with the government's characterization of the affidavits. As the district court explained: From the affidavits it is clear that the DEA employed traditional investigative techniques with limited success; that the Zapata-Hernandez organization was insular, sophisticated, complex, and multi-faceted; that members of the organization adeptly detected and evaded surveilling officers; and that the Government did not know until some time after [the last wiretap authorization had been ordered] the full extent of the organization or the location where drugs might be found during execution of a search warrant. Thus, we conclude that the government explained sufficiently why the wiretaps were necessary. See United States v. Johnson, 645 F.2d 865, 867 (10th Cir.1981) (the determination of the dimensions of an extensive drug conspiracy [has] been held to justify the use of electronic surveillance.); see also United States v. Newman, 733 F.2d 1395, 1399 (10th Cir.1984) (citing Johnson to hold that an affidavit in support of a wiretap application satisfied the necessity requirement where the prior investigation into a drug conspiracy had failed to reveal the source of the drugs and the extent of the conspiracy). Indeed, we upheld a series of wiretaps under similar circumstances. In Ramirez-Encarnacion, the DEA was investigating a smuggling operation that brought drugs from Mexico to Colorado. Ramirez-Encarnacion, 291 F.3d at 1221. The district court judge authorized a wiretap on a dairy that was believed to be the operational center, and authorized interceptions from the defendant's home. Id. In upholding the wiretaps, we noted that the location of the dairy made surveillance almost impossible; that the tight-knit nature of the conspiracy precluded undercover infiltration; that search warrants would have been counterproductive because they would have alerted the conspirators to the investigation; and that despite the use of pen registers, the identity of many of the conspirators and the full extent of the conspiracy remained unknown. Id. at 1223. All of the factors cited in Ramirez-Encarnacion are present in this case. According to the DEA agents, surveillance would only have aroused suspicions; the conspiracy included close-knit family members, making infiltration difficult; search warrants would have been ineffective and possibly damaging to the investigation; and the government's motivation in using the wiretaps was to gain insight into the full extent of the conspiracy. Based on that precedent, as well as ample evidence supporting the necessity of the wiretaps, we hold that the district court did not abuse its discretion in authorizing the wiretaps.