United States v. Vanaman

12 F. App'x 222
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedApril 11, 2001
DocketNos. 99-5393, 99-5402, 99-5404, 99-5407
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 12 F. App'x 222 (United States v. Vanaman) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Sixth 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. Vanaman, 12 F. App'x 222 (6th Cir. 2001).

Opinion

PER CURIAM.

Defendants appeal their convictions for conspiring to distribute and distributing methamphetamine. John Vanaman, Enrique Ochoa, and Lois Jochinto Orta, challenge the denial of their motions to suppress. Wayne McIntosh contests his sentence. McIntosh, Jon Hambrick, and Orta claim they should have had separate trials. Orta also claims that counts in the indictment were misjoined. Vanaman, Orta, Hambrick, and McIntosh also argue that the evidence was insufficient to convict. We AFFIRM.

I. Background

Vanaman and Hambrick were truck drivers from Northern Kentucky. Mary Worley, a Government witness, met Vana-man in June 1997 through Hambrick. She became Vanaman’s girlfriend and moved in with him at 140 Melinda Lane in Florence, Kentucky. She also became his partner in the drug trade. Vanaman routinely bought methamphetamine from William Gesell, and Ochoa in Riverside, California. Worley went with Vanaman to California in June 1997. On their first joint trip, they brought back two pounds to Kentucky, and distributed it to McIntosh and Hambrick.

In late June 1997, Worley, Vanaman, and McIntosh went to Decatur, Alabama, where they met with Ochoa, Gesell, and [225]*225Howard Alexander. Ochoa and Gesell agreed to transport methamphetamine from California for Alexander, who redistributed it to Vanaman and Worley. Wor-ley also met Lois Orta at this meeting. Worley testified that Orta helped transport and guard the methamphetamine. Worley and Vanaman returned to Kentucky with one and a half pounds of methamphetamine. They distributed the drugs to Hambrick and McIntosh.

In early July 1997, Worley and Vanaman returned to Alabama. During this trip, Vanaman met with Ochoa, Gesell, McIntosh, and Alexander at a Comfort Inn in Athens, Alabama. Vanaman bought between three and five pounds of methamphetamine. Worley and Vanaman then distributed these drugs to McIntosh and Hambrick back in Kentucky.

Sometime in July, Vanaman convinced Gesell and Ochoa to end their arrangement with Alexander and move to northern Kentucky. Gesell testified that Vanaman told him that he was selling methamphetamine to McIntosh and Hambrick. Vanaman helped Gesell and Ochoa move into a trailer next to him at 144 Melinda Lane.

Also in early July, Vanaman hired Roy Taylor to transport methamphetamine from California. Vanaman, Gesell, and Ochoa agreed to pay Taylor $700 a week. In mid to late July, Taylor went to California to pick up fourteen and a half pounds of methamphetamine. Taylor flew to California and met Ochoa and Orta. Taylor and Orta used Ochoa’s truck to drive the drugs back to northern Kentucky. Taylor was unable to complete the trip, so Vanaman finished the trip with Orta.

Worley helped unload the drugs, which were hidden in a speaker in Ochoa’s truck. The methamphetamine was packaged in pound-size parcels, wrapped in Saran wrap, and covered in duct tape. Worley and Vanaman again distributed the drugs to McIntosh and Hambrick.

On August 6, 1997, McIntosh and Vana-man had a fight and ended their business relationship.

Around August 15, 1997, Taylor went to California to pick up another shipment of methamphetamine. Taylor’s truck broke down and he rented a car.

On August 25, 1997, McIntosh’s roommate, Greg Harney, agreed to wear a wire and contact Vanaman at 140 Melinda Lane. Vanaman was not at home so Har-ney went next door to Gesell’s and Ochoa’s trailer. During a recorded conversation, Gesell and Ochoa laughed that Vanaman thought he was a “big ... narcotics dealer.” They complained about how slow Va-naman had been selling their dope. That same day, officers saw Taylor’s rental car in the driveway.

On August 25 or 26, 1997, Worley saw Gesell and Ochoa unloading methamphetamine from the rental car at 144 Melinda Lane. After it was unloaded, Ochoa took the drugs to the Super 8 Motel. Worley and Vanaman contacted Orta when they needed to obtain methamphetamine from Ochoa and Gesell.

On or about August 27, 1997, fearful that the police were on their trail, Worley and Vanaman hid their drug records in their house and rented a motel room at the Ramada Inn in Florence. Gesell went on vacation. Worley and Vanaman contacted Ochoa for more dope. Orta picked it up and delivered it to Vanaman and Worley, who then distributed two pounds to Ham-brick on August 27 and another two pounds to him on August 28.

On August 28, 1997, Harney contacted Vanaman. During a taped conversation, Harney gave Worley and Vanaman money for two ounces of methamphetamine. Va-naman agreed to deliver the methamphet[226]*226amine to Hambriek later that night. At the Burns Brothers Truck Stop in Florence, police saw Vanaman hand Harney the drugs.

The next morning, the police obtained search warrants for Room 137 of the Ramada Inn. Room 206 of the Super 8 Motel, 140 Melinda Lane, 144 Melinda Lane, and Hambrick’s house in Walton, Kentucky. Jim Daley, the executive director of the Northern Kentucky Strike Force, testified that these warrants, which were to be executed simultaneously, were part of an ongoing investigation into methamphetamine trafficking in Northern Kentucky. The warrants were based in part on the information received the previous day that thirty to fifty pounds of methamphetamine had arrived in the area. Daley was responsible for coordinating and overseeing this operation. Daley stated that it was important to execute the warrants simultaneously because the officers were worried that some of the dealers, including Vana-man, were armed. They were also concerned that the dealers could warn each other and jeopardize the execution of the warrants and recovery of the contraband.

At approximately 4:00 a.m. on August 29,1997, Detective Scott Lay, a member of the Northern Kentucky Strike Force, took five search warrants to Boone County, Kentucky, District Court Judge Charles Moore in Ft. Mitchell, Kentucky. Lay swore to the accuracy of the information affidavit attached to each warrant, which were identical. Lay inadvertently failed to sign two of the affidavits for the Super 8 Motel and the Ramada Inn, however.

When Lay presented the warrant applications to Judge Moore, he had not yet identified the room numbers for the two hotel rooms. Judge Moore testified that although he had decided to issue them, he would not sign the warrants for the two hotel rooms until the room numbers could be supplied. At 4:20 a.m., Judge Moore executed the remaining search warrants.

Lay told Daley that the judge would not sign the warrants for the two hotel rooms. At that time, Lay and Daley did not realize that Lay had not signed the affidavits for the two hotel rooms. They also thought that Judge Moore had signed the affidavit portion of the warrant applications. Daley also thought that once the room numbers were provided, Judge Moore would sign the warrants.

Daley sent Officer Ben Booher to the judge’s house to wait for this information. When Booher left, he was aware of the Super 8 Motel room number. Meanwhile, efforts were made to coordinate the roughly thirty policemen involved in the investigation. At approximately 7:00 a.m., five search teams assembled near their respective search locations.

At approximately 7:00 a.m., Judge Moore advised Booher that Lay needed to sign the affidavits for the Ramada Inn and Super 8 hotel warrants. Between 7:12 a.m. and 7:15 a.m., Daley told Lay to return to Judge Moore’s house.

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Bluebook (online)
12 F. App'x 222, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-vanaman-ca6-2001.