"Sir, Your Van Won't Start Because Of The Dope Compartment In The Gas Tank--That'll Be 30 Years Please"

UNITED STATES v. SELDON, USCA-4 No. 04-4473, on appeal from USDC-MDD, before USCJs Widener, Michael, King, opinion by King, filed 15 Mar 2007.

LONG STORY SHORT: If auto mechanics discovered secret compartments while repairing a known drug dealer's van and called the police to investigate, and later the same officer stopped the same van for a traffic infraction and found additional evidence of drug trafficking in plain view, then the Fourth Amendment does not require suppression of cocaine found in the secret compartments. Binding in MD, NC, SC, VA, WV.

FACTS: Sergeant Lewis of the Maryland State Police was patrolling Route 50 in Annapolis when he observed a van doing 71 in a 55 and stopped it. On the van's windshield were several decals of charitable police organizations. As soon as Defendant rolled down the driver's window, Sergeant Lewis smelled a strong odor of air fresheners and fabric softeners. Defendant reached for his driver license and a large wad of cash came out with it. Defendant was breathing heavily, his carotid artery was visibly pulsating, and he would not keep eye contact.

As soon as Sergeant Lewis read Defendant's license, he remembered that nine months before, he had responded to a call for assistance from another officer, who was looking at that same van in a dealer's service bay. The owner had brought it in, as he often did, for hard starting and cutting off, and mechanics determined the fuel pump was probably the issue. However, when they examined the fuel tank, they found what looked like a secret compartment inside it, and a second compartment near the fuel tank. Sergeant Lewis, who was the MSP instructor on how to detect hidden drug compartments, watched as the mechanics opened the first secret compartment. He was unable to figure out how to open the second compartment. Sergeant Lewis took copies of the shop's paperwork and checked the van's owner's name with a local drug task force and found that he was a known dealer.

His memory thus refreshed, Sergeant Lewis called for backup and this time was able to open the second secret compartment, which contained 500g cocaine and 850g marijuana, wrapped in fabric softener sheets, plastic wrap, and clear packing tape. This evidence helped make probable cause for searches of other places where Defendant had privacy interests, and evidence from these searches appeared in subsequent prosecution.

PROCEDURE: The United States indicted Defendant in U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland for numerous drug, money laundering, and conspiracy offenses. Defendant moved to suppress all fruits of the searches, on grounds that Sergeant Lewis's original search at the dealer's service bay was unreasonable under the Fourth Amendment. The trial court ruled that it was reasonable for an officer to talk freely with mechanics who had seen the secret compartments, and learn from them who drove the van. This knowledge, independent of Sergeant Lewis's search of the secret compartments but together with what Sergeant Lewis had observed during the stop of the same van, amounted to probable cause to search after the traffic stop. MOTION TO SUPPRESS DENIED. Defendant pleaded guilty and received 360 months on condition that he could appeal the suppression to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

DECISION: Private citizens may happen to discover evidence of criminal activity, but that is not a Fourth Amendment search. Neither is it unreasonable for private citizens to tell law enforcement about what they found. Sergeant Lewis did nothing more than listen to the mechanics and look up information about the person they said was the driver.

When Sergeant Lewis happened to stop the same van later, his training and experience indicated that drug couriers use a lot of air fresheners, put a lot of pro-LE decals on their windows, pull out a lot of cash, and act very nervous. Combined with what the mechanics had freely told him, he had probable cause to search the van and open the secret compartment. It was not necessary to rule on the legality of Sergeant Lewis's search of the secret compartments at the dealership. DENIAL OF SUPPRESSION AFFIRMED.

EDITORIAL: Oh ... my ... goodness ... ROFLMAO! I pity da fool!! He seems not to have gotten the memo about all those air fresheners, better known as "Felony Forest," and all those PBA/FOP/Thin Blue Line stickers, "methinks the dope-slinger doth protest too much," being counterproductive. The cosmic justice of pulling over the same van out of the millions on the road, nine months later, is just too funny. Now he knows why you should set your cruise control at 68. The opinion also said his girlfriend, his mother, and his girlfriend's mother all went down too. Now THEY know why John Farnam keeps telling us "don't do stupid things, go to stupid places, or associate with stupid people."