Opinion ID: 788500
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Search and Seizure of a Package on June 27, 2000

Text: 21 In light of the discovery that mailboxes in the Knoxville area apparently were being rented under aliases and used to receive marijuana shipments, law enforcement officers began canvassing local mailbox rental facilities to identify rentals under the known aliases of Derrick Palmer, James Evans, and Samuel Thompson. 11 This investigation revealed that a mailbox had been rented under the name of Samuel Thompson at a Mailboxes, Etc. store on Kingston Pike in Knoxville. Agent Ribolla visited this location on June 27, 2000, and learned from the store manager that a Federal Express package addressed to Samuel Thompson's mailbox had been delivered a month or two earlier, but had not yet been picked up and remained at the facility. 12 22 Agent Ribolla testified that the box smelled strongly of marijuana. Accordingly, he and Postal Inspector Romano sought a search warrant to open the Fed Ex package. In an affidavit submitted in support of this request, Inspector Romano indicated that the package had been placed in a five-package line-up and that a drug-sniffing dog, Taz, had positively alerted to the Fed Ex package. The affidavit further stated that the Fed Ex package had been turned over to law enforcement as abandoned property. 13 23 A federal magistrate issued the requested warrant, and the box was then opened. Inside, agents found compressed marijuana, packaged into approximately twelve round balls, weighing a total of ten to fifteen pounds. Agent Ribolla testified that this packaging was almost identical to the packaging used in the box seized in Morristown on May 19, 2000. 24