Opinion ID: 3001217
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Search of Hobbs’s Residence

Text: After arresting Hobbs and recovering the cocaine from the rental car, Oberle and fellow Peoria police officer Brett VonDerHeide met at the Peoria Police Department to prepare a complaint for a search warrant for Hobbs’s home. While they drafted the complaint, Peoria police sergeant Ronald Scott Cook, aware of Hobbs’s arrest and possession of cocaine, went to Hobbs’s house to conduct surveillance from an unmarked squad car. Cook saw Turner leave the house, look around, and then go back inside. A few minutes later, Cook saw Turner come out 1 At the suppression hearing, Oberle stated that he arrested Hobbs both for the murder of Hardges and for driving with a suspended license. The police report written by Oberle on the evening of August 10, 2005 regarding Hobbs’s arrest cites only the Hardges murder case as the basis for the arrest. 6 No. 06-3371 again and he followed her while she walked several blocks to where she briefly spoke with an unidentified man. While Cook followed her, another officer had taken over surveillance of the house. As Turner was walking back to the residence, she looked directly at Cook and his unmarked squad car, and began walking faster. Cook believed that Turner had detected his surveillance. As a result, the officers detained Turner in front of the house. Concerned that someone else inside Turner and Hobbs’s home might have seen Turner’s detention and might destroy evidence, the officers entered the house using Turner’s house key. The officers conducted a protective sweep to make sure no one else was present in the house.2 They found no one in the house, but they saw a small amount of an off-white powdery substance on a bedroom dresser. The officers left the house immediately after determining that no one was present and did not touch or field test the powdery substance. The officers called VonDerHeide to inform him of the substance they had seen in the house. Meanwhile, Oberle and VonDerHeide were drafting the complaint for a search warrant. The complaint described the dwelling at 1007 East Cox Street and sought authority to search and seize cocaine and any other related items. The complaint also stated that officers saw Hobbs exit the house and go directly to a car parked on the street, that the officers stopped Hobbs as part of 2 Cook testified that he radioed his superior, Sergeant Adams, about Turner’s detention, and they together decided that a protective sweep was necessary to preserve any evidence inside the house. However, Cook conceded at the suppression hearing that they had not perceived anything, up to the time they conducted the protective sweep, that made them suspect that anyone else was inside the house. No. 06-3371 7 their criminal investigation, and that they observed an offwhite powdery substance on Hobbs’s pant leg. Further, the complaint stated that Oberle and Lamb looked inside the car and saw what appeared to be crack cocaine, that they then arrested Hobbs, and that the substance found both on Hobbs and in the car was determined to be 24 grams of cocaine. The complaint also noted that Hobbs was currently on parole with the Illinois Department of Corrections and was paroled to his residence at 1007 East Cox Street in Peoria Heights, Illinois, and that the officers had knowledge through their investigation that Hobbs was selling crack cocaine in the Peoria area. VonDerHeide, who authored the complaint, stated that, based on his training and experience, it is common practice for drug traffickers to keep drugs such as cocaine and other related items in their homes.3 The final pertinent paragraph of the complaint contained a brief description of the surveillance and detention of Turner in front of the residence, and then read, “[t]o prevent the destruction of any evidence, officers performed a sweep of the residence. During the sweep of the residence, [an officer] observed what appeared to be an off-white powdery substance inside the residence.” At 2:10 p.m. on August 10, 2005, VonDerHeide presented his complaint for a search warrant to a Peoria County Circuit Judge, who then issued a warrant to search Hobbs’s house at 1077 East Cox Street. Moments later, officers executed the warrant and seized nine ounces of crack cocaine, one ounce of powder cocaine, a digital scale, and a loaded .380 caliber pistol from the house. Later 3 The last paragraph of the complaint lays out VonDerHeide’s experience and training, which included thirteen years as a police officer, six years with the Peoria Police Department, assignment to the Special Investigations Division, Vice, and Narcotic Unit, and attendance at narcotics school. 8 No. 06-3371 that day at the police station, Hobbs admitted that the handgun and drugs belonged to him. The Peoria police took the case to the United States Attorney’s Office in Springfield, where they agreed to prosecute Hobbs on drug and gun charges. On August 22, 2005, Hobbs was charged by indictment with unlawful possession with intent to distribute more than five grams of cocaine base in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1) and (b)(1)(B) (Count 1); unlawful possession with intent to distribute more than fifty grams of cocaine base in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1) and (b)(1)(A) (Count 2); unlawful possession of a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c) (Count 3); and unlawful possession of a firearm by a convicted felon in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g) (Count 4).