United States v. Natoya Mashea Handy

592 F. App'x 893
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
DecidedJanuary 30, 2015
Docket13-13232
StatusUnpublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 592 F. App'x 893 (United States v. Natoya Mashea Handy) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eleventh 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. Natoya Mashea Handy, 592 F. App'x 893 (11th Cir. 2015).

Opinion

PER CURIAM:

After a jury trial, Natoya Mashea Handy appeals her convictions and total sentence of 51 months’ imprisonment and a $7,000 fíne for one count of possessing 15 or more unauthorized access devices, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1029(a)(3), and five counts of aggravated identity theft, in -violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1028A(a)(1). After careful review of the entire record, and with the benefit of oral argument, we affirm Handy’s convictions and sentences.

I. TRAFFIC STOP AND SEIZURE OF EVIDENCE

This case involves the April 5, 2012 traffic stop of defendant Handy by City of Miami Gardens police officers. Handy was driving a rental car which the officers impounded and searched. The evidence obtained during the inventory search eventually formed the basis of the federal prosecution in this case. We base our description on the evidence presented at trial, as well as testimony given during a pretrial suppression hearing. 1 We highlight the conflicting evidence regarding certain facts.

A. The Traffic Stop

On April 5, 2012, then-Detective William Wagenmann 2 of the City of Miami Gardens Police Department (“Police Department”) was conducting surveillance as part of a robbery-prevention detail. Detective Wagenmann observed a silver Chevrolet Impala, driven by defendant Handy, with a Georgia license plate and heavily tinted windows circling the surveillance area. The windows of the Impala were so darkly tinted that Detective Wagenmann “couldn’t see anything inside.” The darkly tinted windows violated a Florida law that limited window tinting to a level at which a vehicle’s occupants would be visible.

The out-of-state license plate and illegally tinted windows prompted Detective Wagenmann to run the Impala’s license plate, and he thereby learned that the Impala was a rental. In Detective Wagen-mann’s experience, the perpetrators of a number of past Miami Gardens robberies and burglaries had used rental cars -with heavily tinted windows or out-of-state plates. Therefore, Detective Wagenmann contacted the other members of the surveillance team and alerted them to the Impala’s presence.

Detective Cheri Nettles, another member of the surveillance team, spotted the Impala and started following it, after which it sped up and continued erratically circling the area. Detective Nettles then initiated a traffic stop of the Impala.

As Handy and Detective Nettles were stopping their respective vehicles, Detective Wagenmann pulled up behind Detective Nettles’s vehicle. Once on foot, Detective Nettles approached the driver’s side of the Impala, while Detective Wagen-mann approached the passenger side. Detective Nettles asked for Handy’s driver’s license and registration, and Handy produced her driver’s license and informed Nettles that the Impala was a rental. De *897 tective Wagenmann requested Handy’s permission to search the Impala, but she declined.

Detective Wagenmann subsequently moved to the. driver’s side of the Impala and asked Handy about the dark tint on the windows. Handy replied that she was an entertainer and did not want to be recognized in her car, so she had dark tint applied to the windows. 3 Handy claimed to be in the area visiting a Mend, but she was unable to provide an address, a location, or even an area where the friend lived.

Handy provided Detective Wagenmann with a copy of the rental contract for the Impala, and in reviewing the contract, he learned that the car was about a week overdue, as the rental contract was only for a single day: March 26 to March 27, 2012. When Detective Wagenmann asked Handy about the expired rental agreement, Handy advised him that she had contacted the rental company, Advantage Rent-a-Car (“Advantage”), and had extended the rental over the phone.

B. Detective Wagenmann’s Conversation with Advantage

In order to verify the rental contract for the Impala, Detective Wagenmann then called Advantage using a toll-free number and spoke with “Heath” in Roadside Assistance. Heath checked Advantage’s records and advised Detective Wagenmann that the Impala was overdue and that Advantage had made numerous unsuccessful attempts to contact Handy to have it returned. 4 Heath further stated that no one had contacted Advantage to extend the rental and requested that Detective Wag-enmann impound the vehicle so that Advantage could retrieve it. 5 At the suppression hearing, Detective Wagenmann testified that, to the best of his recollection, he never told Heath that he suspected the car was involved in a crime or that he wished to tow the car for that reason.

Heath’s notes in Advantage’s computer records confirm Detective Wagenmann’s call, stating that Wagenmann “advfised that] he has [the Impala] pulled over.” However, in contrast to Detective Wagen-mann’s testimony that he never told Heath that he suspected the Impala had been used in a crime, the notes state that, according to Wagenmann, the Impala “is under suspicion of being used in a crime and contract overdue” but that the “renter claims she’s already extended it.” Under “Resolution Description,” Heath noted that he “adv[ised] Defective] [Wagenmann] I don’t show it [to] be extended and called ... [the manager on duty] who advfised] he’s been trying to contact customer] to extend it but she doesn’t answer her phone. Defective] [Wagenmann] advpsed] he’s going to impound the vehicle].”

The “manager on duty” referenced in Heath’s notes was John Scott, the manager for the local Advantage location from which Handy had rented the Impala. The *898 record indicates that, while on the phone with Detective Wagenmann, Heath twice placed Wagenmann on hold to speak with Scott on another line.

At the suppression hearing, Scott testified for the defense that, when he and Heath initially spoke, Heath told him that Handy had been stopped by the police and was claiming that her rental contract had been extended and that Heath wished to verify whether the contract had been extended. Scott confirmed that the Impala was overdue but advised Heath to speak directly to Handy and ask her permission to run her credit card to “bring the account up to current,” assuming the card had sufficient funds.

However, Heath placed Scott on hold and, after he came back on the line, “[Heath] said the car — the officer said the car — he is wantfing] to take the vehicle because the vehicle had been involved [in] crimes.” Scott testified that, according to Heath, it was the police officer who wanted the car towed. At that point, because “the car was being involved in a crime, [pursuant to the] company’s policy, [Scott] gave the okay to take the vehicle.” Scott and Detective Wagenmann never spoke directly-

C. Advantage’s Policies on Overdue Rentals

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Bluebook (online)
592 F. App'x 893, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-natoya-mashea-handy-ca11-2015.