Opinion ID: 2960160
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Controlled Delivery

Text: On Friday, October 8, 2004, members of a drug enforcement task force based at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York learned that boxes containing a sofa and loveseat had arrived from Puerto Rico, and that approximately 50 kilograms of cocaine were hidden inside the furniture. The boxes were shipped via FedEx and addressed to Luis Lebron, basement apartment of 377 Vernon Avenue, Brooklyn, New York. The task force officers, consisting of NYPD officers and DEA agents, intercepted the shipment and planned a controlled delivery for the following Monday. 1 Valentine also challenges a four-level enhancement applied to his criminal offense level. Because we remand to the district court for further proceedings relating to the evidence supporting his conviction, we do not consider this challenge at this time. 2 Because there were no FedEx trucks available for the controlled delivery that Monday, DEA Special Agent Christopher Banzer and NYPD Detective Rodney Perez dressed in FedEx uniforms, rented a delivery van and put magnetic FedEx signs on its sides. Another group of agents and police officers parked an undercover surveillance van across the street from 377 Vernon, where they recorded video of the location and received audio transmissions from a wireless device worn by Det. Perez. Other officers2 were positioned in various locations within a few blocks of 377 Vernon. As the officers pulled up in the delivery van at approximately 11:47 a.m., they saw Valentine getting out of a sedan parked near the building. Valentine walked toward the building and said something that Special Agent Banzer interpreted as “Paolo, FedEx, FedEx,”3 and waved to a man named Pedro Rodriguez further down the street. Det. Perez asked Valentine if he could help unload the heavy boxes and Valentine agreed so long as Det. Perez paid him. Rodriguez then approached the officers and Valentine and the group discussed who would sign for the delivery. Valentine then went inside 377 Vernon and came out with a man identified only as “Angel.” Angel said he would call Lebron to ask him to come home to sign for the delivery. Angel called Lebron and gave the phone to Det. Perez. The person on the phone purporting to be Lebron stated that he was at work and could not leave, but they should leave the delivery on the sidewalk for him. Valentine was not present for the phone call. Ultimately, no one signed for the boxes and Det. Perez and Special Agent Banzer went back to their office at JFK without making the delivery.4 2 We collectively refer to the task force members as “officers.” 3 Valentine contends, and the district court concedes, that he may have actually said “Viejo,” which means “old man” in Spanish, instead of “Paolo.” 4 No one was ever indicted for the 50 kilograms of cocaine contained in the furniture. 3 After the delivery van left, several of the officers continued surveilling 377 Vernon. Special Agent Robert Yoos, a 20-year veteran of the DEA, watched the apartment building from an unmarked police car. NYPD Detective Michael Johnson, with seven years’ experience with the police department, continued surveillance from a van across the street. The officers observed Valentine going in and out of 377 Vernon and talking with various individuals on the sidewalk. At approximately 1:00 p.m., Valentine, dressed in a gray hooded sweatshirt, came out of 377 Vernon and gestured to other people standing nearby and proceeded to walk up the block. Special Agent Yoos and Det. Johnson observed Valentine and the other people enter a vacant lot. None of the officers could see what transpired in the lot.5 A few minutes later, Valentine reappeared alone at the other end of the block, holding a cup of coffee or some other beverage. Valentine walked back to 377 Vernon and later removed his sweatshirt and placed it in his car. A supervising agent, who was not on the scene, authorized Valentine’s arrest based on information furnished to him by Special Agent Yoos and Det. Johnson. Yoos then told NYPD Sergeant Allan Hoehl and NYPD Detective Paul Crockett to move in and arrest Valentine, while Special Agent Yoos walked up the street to arrest the other people loitering on the block who had entered the vacant lot with Valentine.6