Opinion ID: 491683
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Stake Out

Text: 2 Jorge Manotas-Mejia, Justo Estrada-Tello, Julian Enriquez-Castro, and Samuel Ramirez-Rios were crew members on the Colombian ship CATALINA. Manotas was the ship's second engineer, in charge of certain engine room equipment. On March 22, 1986, the CATALINA arrived at the port of Houston, Texas from Barranquilla, Colombia. A confidential informant had alerted the United States Customs Service that the CATALINA carried about fifteen kilograms of cocaine for delivery to one Carlos Vaca in Houston. Based on this tip, Customs agents staked out the port and placed the CATALINA under surveillance once it arrived. 3 At about 8:00 p.m. on March 22, agent Robert Mangle saw Marilou Buyoc and a man board the CATALINA carrying a television set box. The man disembarked almost immediately. Buyoc disembarked at about 8:30 p.m. carrying a Gucci style handbag. She left the port in a car. Mangle followed her a short distance and then stopped her and placed her under arrest. In her car, Mangle found the Gucci bag stuffed with about five kilograms of cocaine. 4 During debriefing after her arrest, Buyoc agreed to help the authorities catch her suppliers on the CATALINA. At 11:30 p.m., she returned to the ship with undercover agent Lorenzo Mesa posing as her husband and a cocaine buyer. Once on board, Mesa negotiated to buy three kilograms of cocaine for $72,000 and actually left the boat with four kilograms. The next day, March 23, 1983, Mesa returned to the CATALINA and arrested the four appellants.