Opinion ID: 165798
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Contested Searches and Seizures

Text: 9 Police officers conducted a number of searches during their investigation of the conspiracy. Defendants challenge several of them on appeal. 10 On February 6, 2001, officers executed a search warrant of the Windrix property. The search included both trailers (Windrix's and Westcott's) on the hill. Officers discovered methamphetamine, ingredients and equipment for preparing methamphetamine, marijuana, several firearms, video surveillance equipment, a ballistic vest, night-vision scopes, walkie-talkies, a radio scanner, and large amounts of currency. 11 On May 15, 2001, another warrant was executed, this time for Mook's South Xanthus house. Officers discovered marijuana, a firearm, scales, syringes, gloves, methamphetamine pipes, receipts for methamphetamine-manufacturing ingredients and equipment, and large amounts of currency. A year later officers obtained further evidence — methamphetamine, ingredients, and a videotape of Windrix at a cook — in a May 10, 2002, search of Windrix's car after a traffic stop. 12 This prolonged investigation resulted in a September 6, 2002, indictment charging Defendants with conspiracy. On September 23, relying in part on the indictment, officers obtained and executed a warrant to search Mook's North Garrison house for documentary evidence of the conspiracy, and, after a fruitful search, a second warrant to search the house for methamphetamine-manufacturing equipment and other nondocumentary evidence. The North Garrison searches yielded financial records, bottles, filters, scales, smoking devices, marijuana, firearms, ammunition, and large amounts of currency. During the first search, officers discovered a storage-locker receipt; they then obtained a warrant to search the storage locker, which they executed the following day. They found firearms, ammunition, paperwork, scales, glassware, plastic tubing, and a chemistry textbook. 13 We proceed to address the challenges to these searches. In reviewing the denial of a motion to suppress, we view the evidence in the light most favorable to the Government and accept the district court's factual findings unless they are clearly erroneous, but review the ultimate question of Fourth Amendment reasonableness de novo. See United States v. Kimoana, 383 F.3d 1215, 1220 (10th Cir.2004). 14
15 In January 2001 police officers obtained a search warrant for the hill. The warrant authorized the search to encompass the dwelling, all outbuildings, vehicles and persons which may be found thereat. After providing directions to the property and stating that one enters the property on a road passing through two rock pillars and [a]cross a cattle guard, the warrant described the property as follows: 16 There is a white with brown trim mobile home setting in a north/south direction on the East Side of the entrance road. There is a white colored mobile home setting in an east/west direction, south of that location. There are numerous outbuildings on the property, and there are numerous junk vehicles lined up on the west side of the entrance road. 17 On February 6, 2001, police officers executed the warrant, searching both mobile homes. Between the time the warrant was obtained and the time of the search, officers had been informed that Westcott occupied the second trailer. Westcott contends that the search was overbroad because officers did not have probable cause to search his home. We disagree. 18 In the affidavit supporting the warrant, investigator Mark Shea described the structures on the hill as including a white with brown trim mobile home setting in a north/south direction on the East Side of the entrance road [,] ... a white colored mobile home setting in an east/west direction, south of that location[,] ... numerous outbuildings ..., and... numerous junk vehicles.... Search Warrant Affidavit at 1. The affidavit recounted Osage Nation police officer Dave Hinman's interview with criminal-turned-informant Ricky Devon McDoulett on December 19, 2000. In the interview McDoulett told Hinman that Windrix, whom he identified by a photograph, lived in one of the two mobile homes, had provided methamphetamine to him in exchange for work on cars, had a methamphetamine laboratory in the back bedroom of his residence, had cooked methamphetamine many times in McDoulett's presence, and had cooked methamphetamine with two unidentified males and an unidentified female all night on the day before the interview. McDoulett said that he had known Windrix for 15 to 20 years and that Windrix had been dealing large amounts of methamphetamine for 10 years. McDoulett also said that Windrix had traded guns for methamphetamine, used wire detectors to scan people for transmitters or recorders, and used other persons to provide security during cooks. The same day as the Hinman interview McDoulett provided Tulsa police officers with information leading to two arrests for possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute. 19 Shea added that on January 6, 2001, Osage County deputy Shannon Bradford and Osage Nation police chief Ron Teel conducted surveillance of the hill. As they were walking up the road to the property, they saw several cars parked on the roadway. A woman stepped out of one of the cars and said into a cell phone, I think someone is here, after which a light began scanning the area and an ATV four wheeler began patrolling the road. Shea further reported that a concerned citizen said that he had seen much traffic and heard frequent gunfire on the hill. Shea noted that property records showed that Windrix owns the hill. 20 In addition, the affidavit stated that in October 2000 informant Wendy Chaalan had taken officer Brian Comfort to the hill and told him that Windrix conducts weekly multiple-pound cooks, that she had seen large amounts of methamphetamine and ingredients at Windrix's residence, that Windrix surrounded the hill with armed guards during cooks, and that Windrix used both trailers and a barn to manufacture and sell methamphetamine. Two other informants had also told officers in December 2000 and January 2001 that Windrix was cooking methamphetamine at his trailer and had armed guards around the hill during cooks. 21 Recognizing that informant Chaalan specifically tied his trailer to the methamphetamine operation, Westcott contends that Chaalan's report was vague, ambiguous, and unsubstantiated and uncorroborated. Westcott Aplt. Br. at 33. In particular, Westcott contends the report was vague and ambiguous because there were other trailers — a large Graco travel trailer with a bed in it, and a dump trailer — on the hill. Westcott Aplt. Br. at 34 (internal quotation marks and emphasis omitted). But in context the affidavit is clearly referring to the mobile homes when it mentions trailers. 22 Chaalan's statement was sufficiently corroborated by other evidence indicating that the entire hill was used for a methamphetamine enterprise. We hold that the affidavit provided probable cause to search Westcott's mobile home. 23
24 On May 15, 2001, police officers received a report of a possible methamphetamine lab at the South Xanthus house. Two officers investigated and detected a strong chemical odor ... only associated with the manufacturing of methamphetamine. Affidavit for Search Warrant (5/15/2001). A few hours later, on the basis of an affidavit by one of the officers, an Oklahoma state judge issued a warrant to search the house. The officer-affiant had been certified by the federal Drug Enforcement Administration in the recognition of methamphetamine odors. Police officers executed the warrant the same day, discovering methamphetamine-manufacturing materials and other evidence of the conspiracy. 25 Mook contends that this search was not supported by probable cause, because humans cannot reliably identify odors. But we have repeatedly held in vehicle-search cases that [a]n officer's detection of the smell of drugs, such as methamphetamine ... can be an independently sufficient basis for probable cause. United States v. West, 219 F.3d 1171, 1178 (10th Cir.2000) (collecting cases). We see no reason to limit these cases to vehicle searches: the scent of methamphetamine, wherever detected, gives qualified officers probable cause to search for methamphetamine and evidence of methamphetamine manufacturing. 26 Mook also complains that the affidavit for the warrant falsely states that Mary Gaye Fox, named as the defendant in the affidavit, had prior drug-related convictions. Even if the statement was false, however, the odor evidence clearly established probable cause, so the warrant was nevertheless valid. See Mason v. United States, 719 F.2d 1485, 1488 (10th Cir.1983).
27 On May 10, 2002, Windrix was pulled over for a traffic violation. A drug-detection dog sniffed his car and alerted. A police officer asked for Windrix's consent to search the car, but Windrix refused. Officers then took Windrix into custody and detained him at headquarters for four hours while they applied for and received a search warrant for the car. When officers eventually searched the car, they discovered methamphetamine and methamphetamine-manufacturing materials. 28 Windrix contends that his four-hour detention at police headquarters was unconstitutional and that the evidence discovered in the search of his car must therefore be suppressed. But we suppress evidence because of an unconstitutional arrest only when the evidence was discovered by exploitation of the arrest. Wong Sun v. United States, 371 U.S. 471, 487-88, 83 S.Ct. 407, 9 L.Ed.2d 441 (1963). 29 Windrix rightly concedes that the arresting officers had probable cause to search [his] vehicle right ... after the dog alert. Windrix's Aplt. Br. at 19. It was the dog alert, not the arrest or anything Windrix said or did during the arrest, that justified the search. The evidence was not discovered by exploitation of the arrest. Consequently, it was proper not to suppress the evidence, regardless of the constitutionality of the arrest. See United States v. Shareef, 100 F.3d 1491, 1508 (10th Cir.1996) (seizure of vehicle was not fruit of unlawful detention of occupants); United States v. Eylicio-Montoya, 70 F.3d 1158, 1166-67 (10th Cir.1995) (burlap bags containing marijuana would not have been any less visible had car's occupants not been unlawfully arrested). 30
31 Mook challenges the September 23, 2002, search of his house on North Garrison, claiming that the affidavit for the search warrant failed to provide probable cause. We disagree. 32 The search warrant authorized a search of the premises for documentary evidence as well as contraband. The affidavit incorporates the allegation in the original indictment against Defendants that they had conspired to manufacture and distribute methamphetamine from June 1999 until September 6, 2002, the date of the indictment. Officer Matthew Abowd's affidavit in support of the warrant added that in his experience investigating drug traffickers, they (1) use multiple cell phones, phone cards, and other telecommunications devices; (2) put property, bills, and other records in the names of others; (3) maintain business ledgers and bank and credit card statements; (4) keep recipes and receipts from ingredient purchases; and (5) possess pictures and videos of themselves and associates. He further stated that records of the conspiracy are often kept on traffickers' premises. 33 Here, the grand-jury indictment provided probable cause to believe that Defendants were drug traffickers, see United States v. Killip, 819 F.2d 1542, 1550 (10th Cir.1987), and Abowd's experience, together with common sense, provided probable cause to believe that records of their crime could be found in their homes. See United States v. One Hundred Forty-Nine Thousand Four Hundred Forty-Two and 43/100 Dollars ($149,442.43) in United States Currency, 965 F.2d 868, 874 (10th Cir.1992). Thus, there was probable cause to search Mook's house on North Garrison. 34 E. Second Search of the North Garrison House and September 24, 2002, Search of Mook's Storage Lockers 35 Mook also challenges search warrants for (1) a second search of the house on September 23 and (2) the search of a storage locker on September 24. Mook's sole challenge to these searches is that the warrants were based on evidence discovered during the first September 23 search, which he contends was unconstitutional. Because we hold that search constitutional, we reject this challenge.