Opinion ID: 2709082
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Activities at the Warehouse

Text: In November 2010, law enforcement intercepted six railcars as they crossed from Mexico into the United States. They discovered that the railcars contained large amounts of marijuana, which had been packed into bricks. The marijuana bricks were encased in colored clay shells and hidden inside large bags called “super sacks.” The super sacks were labeled “Made in Mexico” and were filled with a colored, clumpy powder. The powder varied in color; about half the super sacks contained red powder, while the other half contained orange, yellow, and brown powder. Each sack contained eight to sixteen marijuana bricks and weighed approximately 2,550 pounds. After law enforcement officials discovered the marijuana, they followed the railcars to their final destination: a warehouse in Chicago Heights, Illinois. Agents conducted surveillance of the warehouse to identify the intended recipients of the shipment. They stationed agents outside the warehouse, employed court-ordered telephone No. 13-1832 3 wiretaps, and installed cameras inside and outside the warehouse. The agents determined that Carlos Osvaldo Quintero (“Quintero”) ran the Chicago end of the drug trafficking operation. They watched and listened as Quintero and his associates, including Christian Gonzalez (“Gonzalez”), unloaded the marijuana-filled super sacks from the railcars and placed them inside the warehouse. During the unloading process, Gonzalez called Quintero and expressed concern because an unknown man seemed to be inspecting the super sacks. He left a message for Quintero, saying, “Some white dude came … he was lookin’ at all the bags … [h]e was lookin’ at it.” Four minutes later, Quintero called Gonzalez back and told him the man owned the warehouse. However, he said that Gonzalez’s decision to call him about the man’s presence was “a good one.” After unloading was complete, Gonzalez and Quintero arranged to meet to discuss work that still needed to be done. Agents watched as Quintero met with Gonzalez and Javier Vera (“Vera”) inside a department store. A fourth man seemed to be conducting surveillance of the group and watching to make sure that no one approached them. The man then joined Quintero, Gonzalez, and Vera. A few days later, an industrial-sized funnel was delivered to the warehouse. Agents used cameras to watch what transpired. Gonzalez and several other men spent the bulk of the day working to raise up the funnel so that the super sacks could fit beneath it. They also spent time taping together cardboard boxes. Agents also conducted surveillance of the 4 No. 13-1832 warehouse’s exterior; at times, they saw Gonzalez and two other men peering outside the warehouse. Two days later, a white van delivered an empty funnel-like sifting device to the warehouse. A few hours after the machine was delivered, the warehouse owner returned to the warehouse. Vera called Quintero and told him, “Hey, the … white guy[’s] … checking out the warehouse[] … he went inside.” Quintero told Vera to use a cover story to get the white man out of the warehouse. He said, “If he goes over there just … make a conversation with ‘em and try to get him outta’ that warehouse.” Due to concerns that the man would find out what they were up to, Gonzalez and the other men moved the sifting machine to a more secluded spot in the south bay of the warehouse. Cameras were not set up in the south bay of the warehouse, so agents could no longer see the sifting device. They surmised, however, that Gonzalez and the other men used the machine to separate the marijuana bricks from the clumpy powder contained in the super sacks. First, a forklift was used to raise super sacks above the sifting machine. A sack’s contents were then dumped inside the machine. The motoroperated machine contained two augers, which drilled into the clumpy powder in order to separate the marijuana bricks from the rest of the powder. An empty super sack was placed beneath the machine to catch the residual powder. The bricks were then removed. Later that day, agents arrested Gonzalez and the other men as they left the warehouse. The men were literally caught redhanded; they were covered from head to toe in red powder. No. 13-1832 5 Agents then searched the warehouse. They found the sifting device, which was now filled with red powder. They found a forklift with a super sack suspended from its forks. They recovered hundreds of super sacks, all covered in red powder, as well as some cardboard boxes. Agents also found eight marijuana bricks stacked in the back of the warehouse. The bricks were covered in red powder and appeared as if they had been extracted from a super sack. In total, agents recovered 8,752 kg of marijuana that had been packed into bricks and hidden inside the super sacks.