Opinion ID: 692854
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Denial of motion to suppress date book

Text: 4 Mendes claims the district court should have suppressed a photocopy of her date book made by government agents while she was detained at the Mexico-United States border. This contention lacks merit. Custom officials are entitled to seize ... documents where, as here, the officials have been notified that [the documents are] the instrumentalities of a crime involving the illegal importation of [narcotics]. United States v. Schoor, 597 F.2d 1303, 1306 (9th Cir.1979). Customs officials detained Mendes at the Mexico-United States border after they found two marijuana cigarettes in her possession and after a computer query revealed that she was the subject of a lookout. Special Agent Robert Mattivi, who had been investigating Mendes since April 1991, notified customs inspectors that Mendes was suspected of being involved in a narcotics trafficking conspiracy. He asked customs inspectors to search Mendes' vehicle and to copy any documents evidencing her illegal activities. The evidence could have been seized outright. Mendes points to nothing in the circumstances of this case that would make the photocopying unreasonable. Cf. United States v. Cardona, 769 F.2d 625, 629 (9th Cir.1985) (photocopies suppressed because copied items could not be seized).