United States v. Dunford

983 F. Supp. 658, 1997 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17405, 1997 WL 693267
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Virginia
DecidedNovember 5, 1997
DocketNo. CRIM. 97-73-R/A
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 983 F. Supp. 658 (United States v. Dunford) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Virginia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Dunford, 983 F. Supp. 658, 1997 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17405, 1997 WL 693267 (W.D. Va. 1997).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

JONES, District Judge.

In this criminal prosecution for trafficking in counterfeit goods in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2320, the defendant has filed motions to suppress evidence obtained during the execution of a search warrant and pursuant to consent-to-search forms. The defendant argues that the searches of his person, trailers, and stalls located on the premises (“Market”) of the Farmer’s Live Stock Market, Inc., in Tazewell County, Virginia, were invalid and that the evidence obtained pursuant to the searches should be suppressed because: (1) he was unlawfully detained; (2) the search warrant did not authorize a search of the defendant’s person; (3) the search warrant failed to describe with particularity the vehicles to be searched and was therefore unconstitutionally overbroad; (4) the affidavit failed to present sufficient probable cause for the warrant to issue; (5). no good faith exception existed to justify admission of the seized property; and (6) the executing officer did not have probable cause to conduct the searches. Further, the defendant argues that all statements made by him during the course of the searches must be suppressed because: (1) he is illiterate and therefore did not understand the waiver forms he executed; and (2) because his statements were made on the basis of law enforcement promises that he would be afforded special treatment if he acted in an informant capacity for the government. The defendant also moves for suppression of counterfeit merchandise seized from his warehouse and trailers located on the premise of his personal residence in Castlewood, Virginia. The defendant asserts that although the Castlewood search was conducted pursuant to two consent-to-search forms executed by him, the merchandise should nevertheless be suppressed because his consent was not freely and voluntarily given. .

I find that (1) the defendant was lawfully detained pursuant to a valid search warrant and that the frisk of the defendant’s person was a permissible search' for weapons; (2) the search of his trailers at the Market was a legal search conducted pursuant to a valid search warrant; (3) the merchandise seized from his stalls is admissible because the defendant failed to establish the existence of a legitimate expectation of privacy in the stalls; (4) his consent to the Castlewood searches was freely and voluntarily given; and (5) his statements were voluntarily made with full knowledge of his rights. Accordingly, I deny the defendant’s motions to suppress.

7. Findings of Fact.

Based on the testimony and exhibits introduced at the hearing on the motions to suppress, held October 7, 1997, I make the following findings of fact.

1. On May 29,1997, a federal search warrant was issued by a United States magistrate judge to Harold B. Gay, Jr., a United States Customs Service special agent, authorizing the search of the following premises:

[660]*660The grounds and parking lot, exclusive [sic] a fixed structures and buildings, of the Farmer’s Live Stock Market Inc of Tazwell [sic] located on state route 460 in Tazwell [sic] County, Virginia and across route 460 from Route 6 Box 94, Tazwell, [sic] Virginia and approximately 5 miles west of the town of Tazwell [sic] with a metal budding on the property bearing a sign “Farmer’s Live Stock Market, Inc. Of Tazwell” [sic] and as shown in the aerial photographs made a part of the affidavit in support of this search warrant together with any and all vehicles and traders located on the said grounds and parking lot.

2. The counterfeit operation came to Gay’s attention when Bernard Loos, a private investigator with Arnold, Mdls and Associates (“Arnold Mdls”), contacted him about the flea market and presented him with information that Loos had gathered concerning the sale of counterfeit merchandise at the Market. Arnold Mdls was employed by certain trademark holders to investigate counterfeit activity. Gay worked with Loos from February, 1997, to June, 1997, before obtaining a search warrant for the Market. Loos also obtained additional information from another Arnold Mdls investigator, which Loos shared with Gay.

3. In his search warrant affidavit, Gay reported that the Market was a livestock show and trading area and that it was also used for public “flea markets.” The affidavit reported that the Market was a regular gathering place for traffickers in counterfeit goods and that law enforcement agents had visited the site on several occasions and determined that counterfeit goods were being sold wholesale to buyers at the Market. Gay adeged that on or about February 10,1997, a private investigator with- Arnold Mdls informed him that several individuals were engaged in trafficking in counterfeit merchandise, clothing, and other apparel, and that these individuals routinely met each Sunday morning at the Market to display and sell the counterfeit merchandise.

4. The affidavit further reported that the investigating officers had observed a variety of vehicles, including trucks, vans, and passenger vehicles, parked at the Market amidst what appeared to be counterfeit merchandise located in boxes and on display tables. On more than one occasion two tractor trailers were observed at the Market, parked end-to-end. One of the tractor-trailers had a sign painted on it .reading: “ST PAUL WHOLESALE, HIGHWAY 58 CASTLEWOOD, VA (703) 762-7210.” Gay stated in the warrant affidavit that a private investigator informed him that on or about March 15, 1997, the investigator had observed the two tractor-trailers parked end-to-end and that three white males had been selling what appeared to be counterfeit merchandise from the trailers. One of the men wore a hat bearing the logo “ST PAUL WHOLESALE, LEE ROY.” One of-the trailers had a Virginia license plate, number UT 127-759, which the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles identified as having been assigned to the defendant, Lee Roy Dunford.

5. On June 1, 1997, the search warrant was executed and a substantial quantity of counterfeit goods were seized from vehicles and animal stalls located at the Market. Gay and Douglas Fender, a Federal Bureau of Investigation special agent, were among a group of approximately fifteen law enforcement agents who arrived at 7:53 a.m. and secured the area.. The agents announced that they were executing a search warrant and gathered the approximately twenty-five persons present under the roof of the livestock building. The agents had expected the merchandise to be displayed on the grounds and in the parking lot, but because it was raining, the dealers had begun instead to display merchandise in the Market’s animal stalls, under the roof of the livestock building. The dealers, including the defendant, had rented the stalls from the owner of the Market for this purpose.

6. At the beginning of the search, Thomas Radermacher, a United States Customs Service special agent, went directly to the tractor-trailers which had been previously observed parked end-to-end. Before the search was initiated, Radermacher had been provided with a photograph of the defendant and had been assigned the duty of finding and interviewing him. Radermacher located the defendant at the tractor-trailer rigs. As [661]*661before, the trailers were parked end-to-end, the rear doors of both trailers were open, and a wooden platform, approximately five to six feet high, had been placed between the two trailers.

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983 F. Supp. 658, 1997 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17405, 1997 WL 693267, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-dunford-vawd-1997.