Opinion ID: 407601
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: The Search of the Safety Deposit Box.

Text: 66 Finally, Boese objects to the fourth search, this being of a safety deposit box located at the Sausalito, California branch of the Bank of America. The warrant was issued December 4, 1980, and sought passports issued to Dennis Phillip Stevens and other aliases of Boese, a California Driver's license issued to Boese under the alias of Stevens, and correspondence and other business records relating to the unlawful importation and distribution of controlled substances. Fiorentino's affidavit states that a key to the safety deposit box was found on the Seadrift premises, and that Agent Fox had investigated several banks in an attempt to find those places where Boese had safety deposit boxes. The key was finally identified by an employee of the Sausalito branch of the Bank of America as belonging to a safety deposit box in the bank. The box had been opened in June of 1976 by Dennis P. Stevens; the last entry in the box was made on October 2, 1980. 67 We think that the magistrate's finding of probable cause to search was not unreasonable or arbitrary at the very least as to the passports issued to Stevens; these items had not been found at the residence and the only other logical place where they would be kept is in a safety deposit box issued under the name of Stevens. The search of the box produced two Wisconsin birth certificates for Dennis Phillip Stevens; these items were not mentioned in the warrant. Because we think the warrant was valid at least as to the passports sought, the seizure of the birth certificates was proper under the principles of severance outlined above, and we need not consider whether probable cause existed to search for the driver's license or for business records and correspondence. 68