United States v. Andrew Huebner

356 F.3d 807, 2004 U.S. App. LEXIS 1483, 2004 WL 187445
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
DecidedFebruary 2, 2004
Docket02-3504
StatusPublished
Cited by28 cases

This text of 356 F.3d 807 (United States v. Andrew Huebner) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Andrew Huebner, 356 F.3d 807, 2004 U.S. App. LEXIS 1483, 2004 WL 187445 (7th Cir. 2004).

Opinion

COFFEY, Circuit Judge.

On June 21, 2001, when defendant-appellant Andrew Huebner was arrested, agents of the Drug Enforcement Administration (“DEA”) and officers of the Wal-worth County, Wisconsin, Drug Enforcement Unit found one kilogram of cocaine and $1,100 in United States currency in his vehicle. After searching his storage unit and his Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, residence, authorities confiscated nearly six additional kilograms of cocaine as well as small quantities of psychlobin mushrooms and marijuana, $26,000 in currency, and three firearms. A federal grand jury returned a three-count indictment charging Huebner with knowingly and intentionally possessing with the intent to distribute various quantities of a mixture containing cocaine, in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1) and (b)(1)(A), (B), and (C). In his defense, Huebner filed a motion to quash arrest and suppress evidence seized (“motion to suppress”), arguing that law *809 enforcement officers stopped and searched his vehicle without probable cause, in violation of his Fourth Amendment rights. After evidentiary hearings before both the magistrate judge (“magistrate”) and the district judge, the motion was ultimately denied. The defendant entered a conditional plea of guilty to knowingly and intentionally possessing with the intent to distribute a mixture containing cocaine in excess of 5 kilograms, reserving the right to appeal the denial of his motion to suppress. On appeal, Huebner argues that the court erred in concluding that his arrest was supported by probable cause. We affirm.

I. BACKGROUND

At about 11:00 p.m. on June 19, 2001, Chicago Police Officer Alonzo Harris pulled over Dario Cardella for driving “erratically.” During the stop, Officer Harris observed in plain view a narcotic pipe and a subsequent search of the vehicle also revealed a small amount of cocaine. Harris placed Cardella under arrest and transported him to the police station. At the station, upon questioning, Cardella agreed to cooperate with the Chicago Police Department by acting as a confidential informant against his drug supplier, defendant-appellant Huebner.

Cardella was questioned by Detective Eddie Yoshimura, who had arrived at the scene of the arrest shortly after Cardella was pulled over. While Officer Harris took notes, the informant explained to the officers that Huebner was his only source of cocaine. Cardella claimed that he had purchased multiple ounces of cocaine from the defendant nearly every week for roughly one year. The transactions took place near Huebner’s Chicago condominium or, when the defendant was staying at his Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, residence, outside either a health club in Deerfield, Illinois, or the Brat Stop in Kenosha, Wisconsin. On at least one occasion, the exchange took place at Huebner’s Lake Geneva home. During that transaction, the defendant borrowed Cardella’s vehicle to procure the narcotics from another location and returned in a matter of minutes. This led the informant to believe that Hu-ebner stored his cocaine near his Lake Geneva residence. Cardella further told the authorities that Huebner had recently acquired 20 kilograms of cocaine.

In addition to the tips furnished regarding Huebner’s drug deals, Cardella offered the police a wealth of detailed background information about the defendant. He provided an accurate physical description of Huebner as well as the location and telephone number of the defendant’s Chicago condominium. The police corroborated this information using records maintained by the Illinois Secretary of State. The informant also gave the officers directions to Huebner’s Lake Geneva residence and his Chicago place of business, the Havana Art Gallery on Webster Avenue. Law enforcement officers independently verified the information about Huebner’s business by contacting the Chicago Police Department’s Licensing Bureau. Cardella’s information was also consistent with tips from other confidential informants, who had previously disclosed to Detective Yoshimura that an owner of a Webster Avenue art gallery named “Andy” dealt cocaine. In regards to the defendant’s vehicles, Cardella informed the officers that the defendant owned a 1997 four-door Lexus, which the authorities confirmed by searching Illinois vehicle registration records. Additionally, the informant told Yoshimura that Huebner frequently conducted his narcotics deals while driving a *810 black Jeep Cherokee. 1

At 10:00 a.m on June 20, 2001, under the direction of Chicago law enforcement officers, Cardella placed a call from his cellular phone to Huebner’s cellular phone to set up a “controlled buy” of one kilogram of cocaine. Huebner agreed and picked the Deerfield, Illinois, health club as the location of the transaction that was to take place later that afternoon. Chicago police officers, however, needed more time to prepare, so Cardella called Huebner a second time and cancelled the meeting.

In the meantime, the Chicago Police Department relayed the information provided by the informant to the DEA’s office in Chicago. Shortly thereafter, the Chicago DEA’s office contacted its counterparts in Madison and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Madison DEA agents conducted their own investigation and discovered a phone listing for Louis Huebner, the defendant’s father, registered to a Lake Geneva address. Madison agents then sought the aid of the Walworth County, Wisconsin, Sheriffs Department, and thus, a multi-jurisdictional task force was assembled to effectuate the arrest of Huebner.

The next day, June 21, under the direction of Jeanne Hehr, Resident Agent in Charge, Madison DEA agents began surveillance of the defendant’s Lake Geneva home. Early that morning, law enforcement officers observed a black Jeep Cherokee parked near the Lake Geneva residence, which the Illinois Department of Transportation confirmed was registered to Huebner. By 11:00 a.m., the task force had established both aerial and ground surveillance of Huebner’s lake house.

Back in Chicago, members of the task force were taking steps to set up a controlled buy. At 11:30 a.m., the informant again contacted the defendant, at which time Huebner agreed to sell Cardella one kilogram of cocaine at the Brat Stop in Kenosha, Wisconsin, at 3:30 p.m. that afternoon. Detective Yoshimura and Officer Harris, along with other members of the task force, traveled with Cardella to the Kenosha Brat Stop to prepare for the transaction.

Meanwhile, events began to unfold at Lake Geneva. At approximately 2:47 p.m., task force members observed Huebner leave his Lake Geneva residence in the black Jeep Cherokee. Under constant aerial and ground surveillance, the defendant drove to a storage facility less than ten minutes from his lake house. Huebner opened one of the garage-type storage units, remained there for about five minutes, and then returned to his vehicle. As the defendant started to drive away, Agent Hehr ordered the task force to stop and arrest the defendant before he left the main drive of the storage facility. A search of Huebner’s Jeep yielded a kilogram of cocaine and $1,100 in United States currency. Based on this information, search warrants for the storage unit and Huebner’s Lake Geneva residence were obtained.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
356 F.3d 807, 2004 U.S. App. LEXIS 1483, 2004 WL 187445, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-andrew-huebner-ca7-2004.