United States United States of America v. $16,000.00 in United States Currency

CourtDistrict Court, D. Nevada
DecidedMarch 24, 2020
Docket3:19-cv-00319
StatusUnknown

This text of United States United States of America v. $16,000.00 in United States Currency (United States United States of America v. $16,000.00 in United States Currency) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Nevada primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States United States of America v. $16,000.00 in United States Currency, (D. Nev. 2020).

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT DISTRICT OF NEVADA 7 8 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 3:19-CV-319-MMD-WGC 9 Plaintiff, Default Judgment of Forfeiture and Final Judgment of Forfeiture 10 v. 11 $16,000.00 in United States Currency, 12 Defendant. 13 I. FACTS 14 On January 24, 2019 at approximately 2:15 P.M., Averill was driving a 2018 silver 15 Nissan Altima bearing a Utah license plate on Interstate 80 in Washoe County, Nevada. 16 Averill was the sole occupant of the vehicle. 17 A WCSO officer observed the Altima following a semi-truck at a distance of one- 18 and-one-half car lengths and swaying over the fog line. 19 The WCSO officer initiated a traffic stop for following too closely and failure to 20 maintain a lane in violation of Nevada law. 21 The WCSO officer approached the Altima and identified Averill through his Utah 22 driver’s license. Averill volunteered that he was trying to find the exit for the Boomtown 23 Casino, where he was planning to stay. 24 Averill stated that the Altima was a rental from Enterprise Rent-a-Car. 25 The WCSO officer asked Averill about his destination. Averill replied that he was 26 headed to Kelseyville, California near Clearlake to see his mother and planned to stay 27 there until Monday or Tuesday. That was four to five days in the future from the date of 28 the traffic stop. Through his training and experience, the officer knew that Clearlake and 1 its surroundings were a particularly high-production area for marijuana and frequented by 2 traffickers of illegal drugs. 3 While completing a wants-and-warrants check and a warning citation, the WCSO 4 officer engaged Averill in consensual conversation. 5 Averill stated that he travelled to Kelseyville every two to three months. Averill 6 opined that Clearlake was a “dump,” “hillbilly” town, and “crappy.” The WCSO officer 7 commented that Clearlake was a prevalent area for illegal marijuana grows. That 8 prompted Averill to quickly state that Clearlake was quite far away from his destination. 9 Through his training and experience, the officer believed that Averill was trying to 10 distance himself from Clearlake and the locality’s marijuana trade. 11 On January 24, 2018 at approximately 2:18 P.M. (three minutes after the initial 12 stop), another WCSO officer arrived on scene to provide back up to the officer conducting 13 the traffic stop of the Altima. 14 The lead WCSO officer advised Averill of his role as an interdiction officer and 15 asked Averill whether his vehicle contained any illegal drugs or large amounts of 16 currency. Averill replied that his vehicle contained no illegal drugs but that it did contain 17 $15,000. According to Averill, he planned to provide the money to his brother, who lived 18 with Averill’s mother. Averill commented: (a) “we were thinking of getting a boat”; (b) his 19 brother was “going to start looking for [the boat]”; and (c) his brother “ha[d] an idea” 20 about the boat to purchase. Averill then stated that they had not identified a specific boat 21 or any boat models to buy. When asked by the officer whether Averill’s brother knew that 22 Averill would be providing money for a boat, Averill responded that his brother “should” 23 know because Averill had “talked to him about it.” But, Averill then said that the money 24 that he was bringing would be a “surprise” because of the timing. 25 During the conversation, Averill had consented to a search of his vehicle. While 26 still completing the want-and-warrants check and the warning citation, the backup WCSO 27 officer deployed his certified, reliable canine—trained to detect the odor of illegal drugs. 28 The canine alerted to the presence of the odor of illegal drugs coming from the Altima. 1 Based on the positive alert, WCSO officers completed a search of the Altima. The 2 search uncovered a black duffel bag in the rear passenger compartment containing four 3 stacks of United States currency, bundled with rubber bands. Three of the bundles looked 4 similar in size (the lead officer estimated each bundle to be $5,000), and a fourth bundle 5 was smaller (the lead officer estimated it to be $1,000). Later, an official bank count would 6 establish that the currency totaled $16,000. Averill had only declared $15,000 initially. 7 After the search, Averill stated that there were “three” bundles of cash. When an officer 8 confronted him about that number, Averill replied that there was an “extra thousand on 9 the side” and that Averill “forgot about that.” 10 Among other items, the search also uncovered: (a) empty duffel bags; (b) several 11 new, medium-sized unconstructed United States Postal Service (USPS) boxes; (c) a small 12 piece of paper displaying a Utah address and the phrases “UPS Customer Center” and 13 “Hold for Pick-up”; (d) numerous new black plastic garbage bags; (e) numerous zip ties; 14 and (f) packing tape with a dispenser. Through his training and experience, the lead 15 WCSO officer believed that the duffel bags, USPS boxes, plastic garbage bags, zip ties, 16 and note written on the small piece of paper were indicative of involvement in illegal-drug 17 packaging, distribution, transport, and/or delivery. 18 The search also uncovered camping gear. During earlier conversations with 19 investigators, Averill had not mentioned plans to go camping when visiting California. 20 Instead, Averill had stated that he was visiting Kelseyville to see his mother. Through his 21 training and experience, the lead WCSO officer believed that the camping gear was 22 indicative of a plan to visit an actual marijuana grow site. 23 The lead WCSO officer further engaged Averill in consensual conversation. 24 The WCSO officer asked Averill where he had obtained the United States 25 currency. Averill stated that he had received an annuity in October 2018, had withdrawn 26 $9,000 from his bank, and had taken small amounts of money out of the bank over time. 27 The WCSO officer asked Averill if he had ever been arrested. Averill stated that he 28 had a prior arrest for felony distribution of cocaine from 1991, which had resulted in a 1 five-year period of incarceration. A later criminal-history check revealed that Averill had a 2 Distribution of Cocaine arrest from that time period that had resulted in a conviction and 3 custodial sentence. 4 The WCSO officer also asked Averill whether he could contact Averill’s brother, 5 Craig Eddy. Averill consented and provided Eddy’s phone number but then said that Eddy 6 did not know that Averill was planning to provide the United States currency to him on 7 that trip. Averill had said earlier that he and Eddy were planning to buy a boat with the 8 currency and that Eddy should know about the money. 9 The WCSO officer was unable to reach Eddy at that point but did connect with 10 Eddy immediately after the traffic stop. At that time, Eddy stated: (a) Averill was probably 11 coming to visit for at least one week and up to two weeks; (b) Averill might be purchasing a 12 “truck” during the trip; (c) Averill owed Eddy money “on and off”; and (d) Eddy did not 13 know exactly how much money Averill owed him but guessed it was about $2,000. Eddy 14 made no mention of plans to purchase a boat, during Averill’s present trip or a later trip, or 15 a sum of $15,000 or $16,000. Eddy’s understanding of Averill’s planned length of stay (one 16 to two weeks) differed from Averill’s (less than one week). 17 After uncovering the United States currency, investigators put the cash in a new 18 large envelope and placed the envelope along the side of the road in the brush. A WCSO 19 officer, who had not seen where the envelope was placed, deployed his certified, reliable 20 canine—trained to detect the odor of illegal drugs. The canine was a different canine than 21 the canine that had been deployed in the vicinity of the Altima. The canine alerted to the 22 presence of the odor of illegal drugs coming from the envelope of currency.

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United States United States of America v. $16,000.00 in United States Currency, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-united-states-of-america-v-1600000-in-united-states-nvd-2020.