United States v. Williams

CourtCourt of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
DecidedJanuary 2, 2026
Docket25-5011
StatusUnpublished

This text of United States v. Williams (United States v. Williams) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Tenth 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. Williams, (10th Cir. 2026).

Opinion

Appellate Case: 25-5011 Document: 38-1 Date Filed: 01/02/2026 Page: 1 FILED United States Court of Appeals UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS Tenth Circuit

FOR THE TENTH CIRCUIT January 2, 2026 _________________________________ Christopher M. Wolpert Clerk of Court UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

Plaintiff - Appellant,

v. No. 25-5011 (D.C. No. 4:24-CR-00336-JDR-1) MICHAEL BRANDON WILLIAMS, (N.D. Okla.)

Defendant - Appellee. _________________________________

ORDER AND JUDGMENT * _________________________________

Before MATHESON, CARSON, and ROSSMAN, Circuit Judges. _________________________________

A federal grand jury indicted Michael Williams on one count of impersonating an

FBI agent and one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition. The

district court granted his motion to suppress evidence seized from his home. The

Government appealed.

Exercising interlocutory jurisdiction under 18 U.S.C. § 3731, we reverse the

court’s determination that the good-faith exception to the exclusionary rule does not

apply.

This order and judgment is not binding precedent, except under the doctrines of *

law of the case, res judicata, and collateral estoppel. It may be cited, however, for its persuasive value consistent with Fed. R. App. P. 32.1 and 10th Cir. R. 32.1. Appellate Case: 25-5011 Document: 38-1 Date Filed: 01/02/2026 Page: 2

I. BACKGROUND

A. Factual History 1

Pickup Line Incident

On September 26, 2024, Mr. Williams and other parents were waiting in their

cars to pick up their children from Bixby East Elementary and Intermediate School in

Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. See United States v. Williams, No. 24-CR-336, 2024 WL

5246010, at *1 (N.D. Okla. Dec. 30, 2024). Mr. Williams exited his Jeep Wrangler,

approached another parent’s car, and flashed a badge that said “FBI.” App. at 57-58.

According to a witness, the parent was “parked in the pickup line and wasn’t pulling

forward.” App. at 58. The parent called the Bixby Police Department. When officers

arrived, she identified Mr. Williams as the man with the badge.

Officers told Mr. Williams to step out of his Jeep. He complied but refused to

identify himself. Officers arrested him for obstruction. They conducted an inventory

search of his Jeep before having it towed. During the search, they found two fake FBI

badges, a pair of handcuffs, an emergency light bar, a CB radio, and a public address

system. Williams, 2024 WL 5246010, at *1. 2 They seized only the badges, which

“appear[ed] to be commercially produced and not homemade.” App. at 57.

1 We draw the facts from the district court’s order and the search warrant affidavit. 2 The district court listed these items as “a dash camera, [and] light bar,” Williams, 2024 WL 5246010, at *1, while the affidavit stated a Bixby police officer “noticed what he believed to be an emergency light bar on the dashboard, a CB radio, and a PA system,” id. at 57. This slight factual difference does not affect our disposition.

2 Appellate Case: 25-5011 Document: 38-1 Date Filed: 01/02/2026 Page: 3

Investigation

After the arrest, Tulsa Police Officer Robert Heidlage confirmed that

Mr. Williams was not an FBI agent or employee and found that he had two prior felony

convictions—robbery in 2003 and felon in possession of a firearm in 2009.

On October 1, 2024, agents surveilled Mr. Williams’s home and identified his

Jeep parked in the driveway along with other vehicles.

Officer Heidlage prepared an affidavit on behalf of an FBI task force for a warrant

to search Mr. Williams’s home and vehicles on the curtilage. The affidavit stated the

requested search concerned violations of “18 U.S.C. § 912 (False Impersonation of a

Federal Officer or Employee).” App. at 56. The search warrant application said the

“basis for the search” was to find “evidence of a crime”; “contraband, fruits of crime, or

other items illegally possessed”; and/or “property designed for use, intended for use, or

used in committing a crime.” Id. at 53.

The first three pages of the affidavit contained general information about

Officer Heidlage’s qualifications and experience with drug and gang investigations. The

next four pages described the pickup line incident and Officer Heidlage’s investigation.

The final eleven pages described Officer Heidlage’s “training, experience, and

knowledge” of “computer-related crimes,” and provided generic information about

searching and seizing computer systems and information stored on them. Id. at 59-70.

Officer Heidlage concluded “there is probable cause to believe that violations of

Title 18 U.S.C. § 912 (False Impersonation of a Federal Officer or Employee) have

3 Appellate Case: 25-5011 Document: 38-1 Date Filed: 01/02/2026 Page: 4

occurred, and evidence, instrumentalities, and/or contraband of these offenses” are

located in Mr. Williams’s home and vehicles on the curtilage. Id. at 70, 72.

The affidavit included Attachments A and B. Attachment A identified the

“property to be searched” including Mr. Williams’s home address, a description of the

residence, and a photograph, which showed his Jeep parked in the driveway. Id. at 72.

Attachment B listed the items to be seized in subsections.

Subsection A of Attachment B listed “[a]ny law enforcement equipment or

insignia, to include but not limited to”:

i. Items or clothing labeled “Police”, “FBI”, “DEA”, “Special Agent”, “Sheriff”, “Law Enforcement”, ii. Any type of law enforcement identification or identifying items/clothing, iii. Any emergency equipment installed or to be installed on a vehicle such as red and blue flashing lights, iv. Police radio, v. Law enforcement type duty belt, vi. Firearms, vii. Handcuffs, viii. Body armor[.]

Id. at 73.

Subsection B listed Mr. Williams’s electronic devices to be seized, as well as

records of internet usage, email addresses and messages, chat room logs, DVDs, physical

keys, passwords, files, financial records, hacking software, routers, and modems.

Subsections C through F listed additional electronic devices and information to be

seized, including credit card information, house ownership records, adapters, and

chargers.

4 Appellate Case: 25-5011 Document: 38-1 Date Filed: 01/02/2026 Page: 5

On October 4, 2024, a magistrate judge signed the search warrant for

Mr. Williams’s home and vehicles on the curtilage.

On October 16, 2024, officers executed the search warrant. From Mr. Williams’s

home, they seized multiple firearms, ammunition, four tactical vests, a body camera, and

a laptop. From his Jeep, they seized handcuffs, a dash camera, and a red and blue light

bar.

B. Procedural History

Mr. Williams was indicted on one count of falsely impersonating a federal officer,

in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 912, and one count of felon in possession of a firearm, in

violation of 18 U.S.C. §

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United States v. Henderson
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United States v. Cardall
773 F.2d 1128 (Tenth Circuit, 1985)
United States v. Rene Corral-Corral
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132 S. Ct. 1235 (Supreme Court, 2012)
United States v. James Frederick Rowland
145 F.3d 1194 (Tenth Circuit, 1998)
United States v. Cordova
792 F.3d 1220 (Tenth Circuit, 2015)
United States v. Edwards
813 F.3d 953 (Tenth Circuit, 2015)

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United States v. Williams, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-williams-ca10-2026.