United States v. Moran

349 F. Supp. 2d 425, 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 55, 2005 WL 22929
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. New York
DecidedJanuary 5, 2005
Docket5:03-cv-00452
StatusPublished
Cited by25 cases

This text of 349 F. Supp. 2d 425 (United States v. Moran) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Moran, 349 F. Supp. 2d 425, 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 55, 2005 WL 22929 (N.D.N.Y. 2005).

Opinion

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I. INTRODUCTION .432

II. BACKGROUND.433

A. Initial Investigation.433

B. June 16, 2003 Eavesdropping Warrant — Residence Telephone -1193 .435

C. July 15, 2003, Eavesdropping Warrant — Cellular Telephone -2285.436

D. Extension of June 16 Warrant (-1193).438

E. August 1, 2003, Eavesdropping Warrant.439

F. Extension of July 15 Warrant (-2285).443

G. Search Warrant.444

III.STANDARDS. ^ Ol to

A. Eavesdropping Warrants ^ Ol to
B. Search W arrant. ^ Ol cn
C. Probable Cause. 4^ Ol ci
IV. DISCUSSION.456
A. Moran.456
1. 2518 (l)(e), 2518(3)(c) — Need for Wiretap.456
2. Misstatements and Omissions — Wiretap Applications.461

3. 18 U.S.C. § 2518(5) — Minimization.464

4. Search Warrant.465
5. Miscellaneous Motions.466
6. GPS Device.467
B. Heffner.468
C. Lashway.470
D. Cook.473
E. Corigliano.478
1. Omnibus Motion.478
2. Motion to Dismiss the Indictment.479
V. CONCLUSION.481
A. Moran.481
B. Heffner.481
C. Lashway.482
D. Cook..'.482
E. Corigliano.482

MEMORANDUM-DECISION and ORDER

HURD, District Judge.

I. INTRODUCTION

The defendants were charged with narcotics trafficking offenses in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 846 and 18 U.S.C. § 1 (1 count); 21 U.S.C. § 841 and 18 U.S.C. § 2 (7 counts); and 18 U.S.C. §§ 922(g) and 924(a)(2) (1 count), in a second superseding indictment dated April 15, 2004. Defendant Robert P. Moran, Jr., Esq. (“Moran”) filed omnibus motions seeking miscellaneous relief including suppression of evidence derived from a telephone wiretap warrant issued on June 16, 2003, and thereafter extended; a cellular telephone *433 wiretap warrant issued on July 15, 2003, and thereafter extended; a search warrant issued on August 17, 2003; and the war-rantless use of a GPS tracking device on his vehicle. Defendant Chance E. Heffner (“Heffner”) moved to suppress all physical evidence seized pursuant to the search warrant at his residence, 403 Fishing Rock Road, and from his vehicles (a 1997 Mercury sedan, a 1972 Winnebago, and a 1985 Harley Davidson motorcycle). Defendant Donald Lashway (“Lashway”) filed an omnibus motion on March 12, 2004, and a supplemental motion to suppress on May 28, 2004. Defendant David L. Cook (“Cook”) filed an omnibus motion on February 11, 2004. He subsequently withdrew that portion of the motion seeking discovery pursuant to Fed.R.Crim.P. 16. Cook filed a supplemental motion to suppress on June 2, 2004. Defendant Thomas A. Corigliano (“Corigliano”) filed an omnibus motion on June 2, 2004.

The government opposes each defendants’ motions. Oral argument was heard on June 22, 2004. Decision was reserved.

On July 20, 2004, Corigliano filed a motion to dismiss the indictment. The government opposed. Corigliano’s motion was taken on submission without oral argument.

II. BACKGROUND
A. Initial Investigation

In the spring of 2003 the Oneida County Sheriffs Department formed a gang intelligence detail, to which Investigator Keith C. Grogan (“Grogan”) was appointed. The gang intelligence detail was formed to gain, gather, and share intelligence regarding gang activity in and around Oneida County in cooperation with other law enforcement agencies. Grogan, a fourteen-year veteran of the Oneida County Sheriffs Department, developed a confidential informant (“Cl”) in April 2003, in the course of pursuing the goals of the gang intelligence detail. The Cl informed Grogan about local motorcycle clubs and the alleged distribution of methamphetamine.

According to Dennis Tomasone (“Toma-sone”), a Special Investigator for the New York Attorney General’s Organized Crime Task Force, on April 16, 2003, two members of the Hell’s Angels Motorcycle Club (“Hell’s Angels”), Keith Gagnon (“Gag-non”) and Heffner, were seen exiting the Hell’s Angels Troy, New York, club house. They were followed to 403 Fishing Rock Road, Middleville, New York, where surveillance of them was discontinued because of the difficulties inherent in conducting physical surveillance of a rural location. It was later determined that Gagnon and Heffner were residing at 403 Fishing Rock Road.

The telephone toll records for 403 Fishing Rock Road (315-891-3719) were obtained by subpoena. Review of the telephone log from February 6, 2003, through April 24, 2003, revealed calls to the Hell’s Angels’ Troy club house; two telephone calls to 315-336-1410 (“-1410”), Moran’s law office in Rome, New York; and ninety-eight (98) calls to 315-337-1193 (“-1193”), Moran’s residence at 6196 Hawkins Corners Road, Lee Center, New York (“Hawkins Corners residence”). Telephone toll records were also obtained by subpoena for Verizon cellular telephone 518-339-1890, which was listed to a Keith Gagnor, Palmyra, Me., an address sometimes used by Gagnon. There were twenty-two numbers in common between that cellular telephone and the 403 Fishing Rock Road telephone.

A comparison of the telephone log for - 1193, also obtained by subpoena, revealed five numbers in common with Gagnon’s residence or cellular telephone for the time *434 period March 1, 2003, to April 24, 2003. This review also revealed eighteen calls to the 403 Fishing Rock Road telephone. Five calls were made to 518-273-3230, a number listed to Flesh Jess Tattoos, which is owned by a member of the Troy Hell’s Angels.

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Bluebook (online)
349 F. Supp. 2d 425, 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 55, 2005 WL 22929, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-moran-nynd-2005.