United States v. Castro

959 F. Supp. 2d 1205, 2013 WL 3773984, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 100356
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Missouri
DecidedJuly 18, 2013
DocketCase No. 12-00334-01-CR-W-HFS
StatusPublished

This text of 959 F. Supp. 2d 1205 (United States v. Castro) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Castro, 959 F. Supp. 2d 1205, 2013 WL 3773984, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 100356 (W.D. Mo. 2013).

Opinion

ORDER

HOWARD F. SACHS, District Judge.

After review of the record, and noting that there were no objections filed, the report and recommendation (Doc. 59) is hereby adopted, and the motion to suppress (Doc. 28) is hereby GRANTED.

REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION

JOHN T. MAUGHMER, United States Magistrate Judge.

Pending before the Court is the Motion to Suppress Evidence (Doc. # 28) filed on February 8, 2013, by defendant Ricardo Varela Castro (“Castro”). On April 10, 2013 and on April 16, 2013, the undersigned held a two-day evidentiary hearing on Castro’s motion. Castro was present and represented by his counsel, William A. Seiden and Sean Santoro. The government was represented by Special Assistant United States Attorney Sydney N. Sanders. At the evidentiary hearing, testimony was given by five witnesses: Officer Sargis Zadoyan with the Kansas City Missouri International Airport Police Department, Detective James Morgan with the Kansas City Missouri Police Department, Sergeant Christopher Scott with the Missouri State Highway Patrol, Detective Antonio Garcia with the Kansas City Missouri Police Department, and Special Agent David Larson with the Drug Enforcement Ad[1207]*1207ministration. Additionally, the following exhibits were admitted into evidence:

Number Description
Gov’t. 1-30 Photographs
Gov’t. 31-32 Consents to search
Deft. # 2 Consent to search
Deft. # 3 Warrant form
Deft # 4 Google translate page

On the basis of all the evidence adduced at the evidentiary hearing, the undersigned submits the following:

PROPOSED FINDINGS OF FACT
1. In October of 2012, Sargis Zadoyan was employed as an officer by the Kansas City Missouri International Airport Police Department and, additionally, was assigned to the Drug Enforcement Administration (“DEA”) as a Task Force Officer on the DEA interdiction team. Tr. at 8.
2. On October 31, 2012, Officer Zadoyan was put in contact with a DEA agent out of the State of Utah and informed that a vehicle stop in that state had yielded the seizure of a quantity of liquid methamphetamine. Tr. at 9, 28-29.
3. Officer Zadoyan was also told that the driver and passenger — Maribel Delaeruz (“Delaeruz”) and Ernesto Urbina (“Urbina”) — of the stopped vehicle were destined for Kansas City and were interested in cooperating with the DEA in conducting a controlled delivery of the liquid methamphetamine to Kansas City. Tr. at 9-10, 30.
4. The purpose of a controlled delivery is to enable law enforcement officers to identify recipient parties and, in the process, dismantle drug trafficking organizations. Tr. at 21.
5. After learning that Delaeruz and Urbina were coming to Kansas City to participate in a controlled delivery, Officer Zadoyan assembled an initial team of six or seven law enforcement officers to work on the controlled delivery. Tr. at 33.
6. The next day, November 1, 2012, Delaeruz and Urbina arrived in Kansas City accompanied by Utah DEA agents. Tr. at 10-11.
7. Shortly after arriving in Kansas City, Urbina received a telephone call on his cell phone from a party in California who gave Urbina instructions that he would be receiving a call from someone in Kansas City to arrange for the delivery of the liquid methamphetamine. Tr. at 11, 36, 67.
8. Prior to Urbina receiving this call from someone in Kansas City, he was interviewed by Officer Zadoyan and Urbina and informed Officer Zadoyan that he had made previous deliveries of liquid methamphetamine to Midwestern cities (e.g., Des Moines) on behalf of the California party, but this was his first trip to Kansas City. Tr. at 12-13.
9. Urbina told Officer Zadoyan that the liquid methamphetamine was placed in the vehicle’s windshield washer fluid container and then, upon arrival in the destination city, the container would be unloaded by individuals Urbina would meet in the destination city. Tr. at 13-14.
10. Urbina told Officer Zadoyan that after he would meet with the designated individual in the destination city, the container with the liquid methamphetamine would be removed from the vehicle and that this occurred in different locations “such as parking lots, in front of McDonald’s, and sometimes in a house.” Tr. at 13, 155-56, 158, 160-61.
11. During the interview with Officer Zadoyan and other law enforcement officers, Urbina received three local calls on his cell phone, but the officers would not permit him to answer since the interview was ongoing. Tr. at 14.
[1208]*120812. Urbina then received another call from the California party which the officers allowed him to answer. Tr. at 14-15.
13. Urbina was told by the California party that the Kansas City contact was trying to reach him and Urbina was given a local number to call. Tr. at 15.
14. When Urbina called the local number, he was told to drive his vehicle (containing the liquid methamphetamine in the vehicle’s windshield washer fluid container) to a particular Denny’s restaurant in Kansas City and to wait in the Denny’s parking lot for further contact. Tr. at 16, 42-43.
15. Prior to Urbina leaving the DEA office, a tracking device was placed in Urbina’s vehicle with Urbina’s consent. Tr. at 16-17.
16. While installing the tracking device, Urbina’s vehicle was also inspected by Detective James Morgan with the Kansas City Missouri Police Department. Tr. at 71, 73,116.
17. Detective Morgan determined that the easiest way to access and remove the vehicle’s windshield washer fluid container was through the wheel well requiring some disassembly of the vehicle. Tr. at 73-74.
18. Detective Morgan estimated that removing the vehicle’s windshield washer fluid container would take 20 to 45 minutes. Tr. at 74,116.
19. Several law enforcement agents then went ahead of Urbina and established surveillance at the Denny’s. Tr. at 17, 75,174-75.
20. On his way to the Denny’s, Urbina received a telephone call from the Kansas City contact changing the location for the meet to a different Denny’s. Tr. at 18, 44.
21. Urbina told Officer Zadoyan about the new location for the meet and, despite the last minute change, law enforcement officers were still able to establish surveillance at the second Denny’s prior to Urbina’s arrival. Tr. at 18, 75-76,176-77.
22. When Urbina arrived at the Denny’s parking lot at approximately 6:54 p.m., he began a conversation with two occupants of a white Jeep Grand Cherokee with Missouri license plates that was also parked in the lot. Tr. at 18-19, 43-44,177.
23.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
959 F. Supp. 2d 1205, 2013 WL 3773984, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 100356, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-castro-mowd-2013.