Opinion ID: 498049
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Second Surveillance Effort

Text: 3 Approximately six weeks later, on September 23, 1986, the same DEA agent spotted a man driving a white Volkswagen Beetle that was in immaculate condition with New Jersey license plates in Queens, New York. The agent concluded that this vehicle was the same one that he had observed previously; he also believed that the same person was driving the Volkswagen on both occasions, although he was not absolutely certain. He learned later that day that the driver of the Volkswagen was Cesar Cruz, the brother of appellant Oliverio Cruz. Based on the agent's prior observations, he decided to conduct a surveillance of the driver of the Volkswagen with the assistance of other DEA agents. 4 While the agents were conducting this second surveillance, Cesar Cruz double parked the Volkswagen outside of a house in Queens, went inside and emerged approximately thirty seconds later, carrying a very heavy suitcase which he placed in the trunk of the Volkswagen. He then reentered the house, and after a very short time again emerged, this time carrying with him several unassembled cardboard boxes which he also placed in the Volkswagen. 5 Cesar Cruz then drove the Volkswagen to another location in Queens, where he met several individuals, one of whom was later identified as the defendant-appellant Oliverio Cruz. The group conversed for several minutes and then separated. Oliverio Cruz drove away in a tractor trailer truck with Florida license plates, and Cesar Cruz drove away in the white Volkswagen. As the two vehicles travelled together to Perth Amboy, New Jersey, they exchanged positions in the lead. In Perth Amboy, Cesar Cruz parked the Volkswagen inside an auto repair garage, and Oliverio Cruz parked the truck on the street by the garage. 6 The agents continued their surveillance efforts at the repair garage for several hours. During this time, the suspects removed two long cylindrical objects from the trailer portion of the truck, and carried them into the garage. The men also loaded a plywood panel into the trailer, and then subsequently removed the panel, before they later carried it again into the trailer. Four heavy cardboard boxes were loaded into the trailer. Throughout this surveillance, the agents heard hammering and prying noises, sounds associated with construction work. The agents observing these activities concluded that the men were building a hiding place inside the trailer for the four cardboard boxes. 7 Participants in the activities at the auto repair shop twice left the scene. On one occasion, Gustavo Fernando Cruz drove to a home in Woodbridge, New Jersey. He entered the house and then came out in approximately ten minutes carrying a plain brown grocery bag, the top of which was rolled over. He then drove back to the auto garage area, where the others were testing the lights on the truck. After these tests, Cesar, Oliverio and Gustavo Fernando Cruz travelled in the Volkswagen to a nearby auto parts store. When they came out of the store, Oliverio Cruz was carrying a brown paper bag. They then drove to the same house in Woodbridge, New Jersey where Gustavo Fernando Cruz had previously been and went inside the house for a few minutes before returning to the auto repair garage. While the men were back at the garage area, the lights on the truck were checked again. After dark, Cesar Cruz drove the Volkswagen to Queens, New York, and Oliverio Cruz drove the tractor trailer truck south on the New Jersey Turnpike. Both vehicles were followed by DEA agents. 8 After Oliverio Cruz had driven for about a mile on the New Jersey Turnpike, he pulled the truck over to the side of the highway by an overpass and turned off the truck's lights. He then got out of the truck and stood next to the cab of the truck and watched southbound traffic for approximately five minutes. The agents interpreted Cruz's stop as an effort to see if he was being followed. Cruz then returned to his truck, and proceeded south on the highway at approximately 75-80 miles per hour. 9 The agents requested New Jersey state troopers to assist them in stopping Cruz's truck. Two marked state police cars and one unmarked police van responded to this request. The state troopers activated their roof lights and sirens to signal Cruz to pull over to the side of the highway. Cruz, who was driving in the right lane of the turnpike, did not immediately pull his truck over to the right shoulder, but instead veered into the middle lane of the highway, in which one of the police cars was travelling. The officers then positioned their police cars in such a manner as to force Cruz's truck to the side of the highway. 10 When the truck was on the shoulder of the road, uniformed state police officers approached Cruz. It quickly became apparent that Cruz did not speak English and an officer who spoke Spanish was called upon to translate. The officer asked Cruz for his license and registration, which Cruz supplied. The officers then decided that they should move from the shoulder of the interstate highway to a safer location. They decided to move all of the vehicles to a New Jersey State Department of Transportation (DOT) garage area about a half mile south of where the stop had occurred. Cruz was patted down, handcuffed, and placed in the back seat of a police cruiser. An investigator who was an experienced operator of tractor trailer trucks entered the cab of Cruz's truck in order to move the truck to the DOT garage area. As he entered the cab, he noticed that there was an open flight bag on the front seat of the cab. He could see that there were two objects in the flight bag which were wrapped in a type of tape that in his experience is commonly used to package cocaine. 11 After arrival at the DOT garage area, Cruz remained handcuffed in the back seat of the cruiser. The troopers issued several summonses to Cruz for various traffic offenses including speeding, unsafe lane changing and tailgating. Approximately ten minutes later, a detective initiated a conversation with Cruz concerning whether Cruz would consent to the search of his truck. Within a few minutes Cruz signed a pre-printed DEA consent form that was printed in Spanish, agreeing to the search of his truck. 12 The search of the truck was not conducted immediately after the consent was obtained, however, because the DEA agents were awaiting the arrival of their supervisor. After about an hour, the officers at the DOT garage learned that Cesar Cruz had been arrested in Queens and a quantity of cocaine and money had been found in connection with the arrest. Oliverio Cruz then was told that he was under arrest. The officers searched the truck and found four cardboard boxes hidden behind a false wall in the truck. The boxes contained $3,261,128 in currency of varying small denominations. Approximately $70,000 in cash was found in the packages wrapped in tape that were in the cab of Cruz's truck. 13 After Cruz was placed under arrest, an agent read Cruz his Miranda rights in Spanish. Cruz then admitted that he knew that there was money in the truck but said he did not know how much. He also stated that he had been told to drive the truck to Miami and park it in an unspecified location where it would be picked up by someone and later returned to Cruz.