United States v. Jones

311 F. Supp. 3d 761
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Virginia
DecidedMay 4, 2018
DocketCRIMINAL NO. 2:18cr30
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 311 F. Supp. 3d 761 (United States v. Jones) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.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. Jones, 311 F. Supp. 3d 761 (E.D. Va. 2018).

Opinion

Robert G. Doumar, Senior United States district Judge

On April 13, 2018, the parties appeared before the Court on Duane Dequan Jones' ("Defendant Jones") Motion to Suppress. ECF No. 21. At that time, Defendant Jones stood charged with five counts of a thirteen-count criminal indictment, which included several firearm and drug offenses.1 ECF No. 1. In his motion, Defendant *763Jones moved to suppress all of the evidence recovered from a search of Defendant Jones' van on October 19, 2017, including a handgun, methamphetamine, and marijuana, on the grounds that law enforcement's detention of Defendant Jones and subsequent search of his van on that date were unlawful. At the conclusion of the hearing, the Court DENIED Defendant Jones' Motion to Suppress. ECF No. 21. This Opinion sets forth the Court's reasons for its decision.

I. FACTUAL BACKGROUND

In June, 2017, the Virginia Beach Police Department ("VBPD") and the federal Drug Enforcement Agency ("DEA") began a narcotics investigation into Defendant Jones' co-defendant, Michael David Smith ("Smith"), after receiving information from a confidential informant that Smith was selling cocaine and marijuana from a recording studio located at 156 Newtown Road, Suite 4A, in Virginia Beach, Virginia ("Newtown Studio"). As part of the investigation, the lead detective, Detective Brent Riddick of VBPD Special Investigations, began orchestrating controlled cocaine purchases between the confidential informant ("CI") and Smith. Four such purchases occurred between June 29, 2017, and September 9, 2017, all of which took place at the Newtown Studio.

A. Law Enforcement Discovered Smith's Heroin Supplier.

On September 9, 2017, at Detective Riddick's instruction, the CI asked Smith about purchasing heroin. Smith confirmed that he had a heroin supplier, at which time the CI arranged to buy heroin from Smith. A few weeks later, during this first controlled heroin purchase, Smith's apparent heroin supplier arrived at the Newtown Studio in a maroon Chevy Tahoe, which had a license plate number registered to Darien Everette ("Everette").

Detective Riddick then orchestrated a second controlled heroin purchase, which occurred the next day. During this transaction, Smith's supplier arrived at the Newtown Studio in the same Chevy Tahoe, and he was accompanied by an unknown male. Law enforcement positively identified the supplier as Everette. Using mobile surveillance, law enforcement soon located Everette's residence on Geneva Avenue in Chesapeake, Virginia ("Geneva Residence").

Detective Riddick then orchestrated two additional controlled heroin purchases from Smith. These purchases occurred at the Newtown Studio on October 6, 2017, and on October 12, 2017. Just prior to each of these transactions, law enforcement watched Everette leave his Geneva Residence, drive to the Newtown Studio in his Chevy Tahoe, and leave the Newtown Studio after a short time. On both occasions, Everette was accompanied by an unknown male. On October 6, 2017, the unknown male drove separately in a Chevy Silverado pickup truck following behind Everette. On October 12, 2017, a different unknown male rode as a passenger in Everette's Chevy Tahoe while Everette drove. On both occasions, once Everette had left the Newtown Studio, Smith signaled to the CI that the heroin was ready for purchase.

B. Law Enforcement Planned a Takedown of the Newtown Studio.

Just after noon on October 19, 2017, Detective Riddick secured the following four warrants from the Virginia Beach Circuit Court: (1) a search warrant for the Newtown Studio; (2) a search warrant for *764the Geneva Residence; (3) an arrest warrant for Smith; and (4) an arrest warrant for Everette. The two search warrants authorized a search for heroin and other items related to drug activity.

With these warrants, law enforcement planned simultaneous takedown operations of the Newtown Studio and the Geneva Residence to occur that same day, October 19, 2017. The plan was as follows: The CI would arrange a controlled heroin purchase from Smith to occur that afternoon. A mobile surveillance team would track Everette's movements, and Special Weapons and Tactics ("SWAT") teams would be located at the Newtown Studio and the Geneva Residence to execute the takedown operations. One SWAT team would arrest Everette when he arrived at the Newtown Studio to deliver the heroin supply to Smith. A second team would enter the Newtown Studio from the front entrance once Everette was secured. A third team would secure the rear entrance to the studio while the second team executed the initial sweep of the studio. Finally, a separate SWAT team would search the Geneva Residence at the same time as the studio. When this operation was planned, Defendant Jones was not a target of the investigation or known to the investigators.

C. Defendant Jones Accompanied Everette on the Day of the Takedown.

In the early afternoon on October 19, 2017, the day of the scheduled takedown, law enforcement surveillance determined that Everette had entered a Waffle House restaurant in Chesapeake. An undercover DEA task force agent arrived at the Waffle House sometime thereafter and viewed Everette dining with an unknown male, later identified as Defendant Jones. Everette and the then-unknown male left the restaurant together at around 3:00 p.m. and got into separate vehicles in the parking lot. Everette got into his Chevy Tahoe, and the then-unknown male got into a red minivan. The undercover agent, in his own vehicle, then followed Everette and saw the red minivan follow closely behind Everette's Tahoe until both vehicles arrived at the Geneva Residence. Everette and the then-unknown male in the red minivan parked in the driveway of the Geneva Residence, and they entered the residence. A short while later, they exited the Geneva Residence at the same time and got into their respective vehicles. The two vehicles then caravanned from the Geneva Residence in Chesapeake to the Newtown Studio in Virginia Beach. Their total journey together spanned about twenty miles.

Meanwhile, Detective Riddick was working to identify Everette's unknown companion. Just after 3:00 p.m., Detective Riddick ran the license plate number of the red minivan through a police dispatcher who determined that the van was registered to Defendant Jones and that Defendant Jones' license was suspended. Detective Riddick then ran a report for Defendant Jones in LInX, a law enforcement data-sharing program, which generated an arrest record and photograph of Defendant Jones. The arrest record reflected that Defendant Jones had been arrested on five different occasions for ten drug-related offenses.2 The undercover agent from the Waffle House then confirmed that the LInX photograph of Defendant Jones was the same individual who had dined with Everette at the Waffle House.

*765Detective Riddick then briefed the studio SWAT officers on the situation and instructed them to detain Defendant Jones during the takedown. As a result, Sergeant J. Minehan, who prepared the tactical operations plan for the takedown, adjusted the plan to account for Defendant Jones' presence. Specifically, he instructed Officer J.

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Bluebook (online)
311 F. Supp. 3d 761, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-jones-vaed-2018.