U.S. v. Maltais

• Decision Date: 07 April 2005
• Docket Number: No. 04-1890.,04-1890.
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Appellee, v. Joseph Dominic Marcel MALTAIS, Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

403 F.3d 550

UNITED STATES of America, Appellee, v. Joseph Dominic Marcel MALTAIS, Appellant.

No. 04-1890.

United States Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit.

Submitted: December 13, 2004.

Filed: April 7, 2005.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Chad R. McCabe, argued, Bismarck, ND, for Appellant, for appellant.

Scott Jordan Schneider, Asst. U.S. Atty., argued, Bismarck, ND, for Appellee.

Before WOLLMAN, LAY, and COLLOTON, Circuit Judges.

COLLOTON, Circuit Judge.

Joseph Dominic Marcel Maltais appeals the district court's¹ denial of his motion to suppress evidence seized during a search of his truck and trailer. See United States v. Maltais, 295 F.Supp.2d 1077 (D.N.D.2003). Maltais entered a conditional plea of guilty to possession with intent to distribute 50 kilograms or more of marijuana in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1) & 841(b)(1)(C), and was sentenced to a term of 30 months' imprisonment. We affirm.

I.

Senior Border Patrol Agent Robert Danley, performing border patrol duties in a marked border patrol vehicle, encountered Maltais approximately 500 yards south of the Canadian border in rural North Dakota at approximately 1:00 a.m. on August 8, 2003. Maltais was sitting in the driver's seat of his truck, which was parked facing south by the side of a gravel road. The truck was towing a camper trailer, and both vehicles displayed Manitoba license plates. Prior to this encounter, Danley knew that a local farmer had reported seeing a truck and trailer of similar description driving in the area in the early morning hours.

Agent Danley stopped and requested license checks on the truck and trailer. Shortly thereafter, Maltais approached Danley's vehicle and asked whether there was a problem. The parties agree that Danley inquired about Maltais's immigration status and his most recent entry to the United States, but there is a dispute about precisely what was said. 295 F.Supp.2d at 1081-82. All agree that Danley did not believe Maltais's statements about his recent travels, and that the encounter ended when Danley told Maltais to return to his trailer and stay there.²

During this time, Senior Patrol Agent Bernard Olson heard the radio traffic and recognized the license plate numbers called in by Danley. Olson contacted Danley by radio and informed him that Maltais's vehicle was suspected of involvement in contraband smuggling. When Maltais's vehicle and trailer had undergone inspection at the Dunseith, North Dakota, Port of Entry around June 10, 2003, inspectors discovered hidden compartments in the floorboards of the trailer. Olson knew of the discovery and knew that Maltais's vehicle and trailer matched the description of the suspected smuggling vehicle. Olson asked Danley to detain Maltais until he could get there to pursue the investigation further. Danley then approached Maltais and instructed him to step out of the truck. Danley frisked Maltais and placed him in the back of the Border Patrol vehicle.

Olson contacted Special Agent Chris Guyer in Minot to let him know that Danley had stopped Maltais with the truck and trailer. As a result of previous intelligence reports and investigations, Guyer suspected that Maltais was a member of an international drug-smuggling group called the "Tetz Organization," which the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency believed to be smuggling marijuana and currency into North Dakota from Manitoba. Guyer also knew that Maltais had been stopped at the Dunseith port of entry on June 10 with the same vehicles observed by Danley.

Olson was approximately 100 miles from the scene when he first spoke to Danley. At approximately 1:30 a.m., Olson contacted Bureau of Indian Affairs Officer Stacy LaRocque seeking canine assistance at Danley's location. LaRocque went to the police station, spoke with the K-9 handler, Officer Robert Hulett, and arranged to bring Hulett and a dog to the scene. LaRocque and Hulett obtained approval from the lead officer to provide such assistance at approximately 2:00 a.m. They drove to the scene from Belcourt, North Dakota, which was over sixty miles from Danley's location.

Between 2:40 and 3:10 a.m., Guyer, Olson, LaRocque, and Hulett arrived at the scene. Olson identified Maltais as the same individual he had encountered during the inspection of the truck trailer at the Dunseith Port of Entry. At approximately 3:15 a.m., Olson asked Maltais for consent to search the truck and trailer. Maltais declined.³

Around 3:30 a.m. to 3:35 a.m., Hulett's drug-detecting dog swept the truck and trailer. The dog alerted to contraband at the rear of the trailer and twice near the trailer's side door. At this point, officers conducted a quick protective search of the trailer and saw several open black duffel bags containing plastic vacuum-sealed bags filled with a green leafy substance that appeared to be marijuana. Danley read Maltais his Miranda rights at approximately 3:55 a.m. Shortly thereafter, Maltais and the vehicles were taken to the Bottineau Border Patrol Station.

Later that day, Border Patrol agents executed a federal search warrant on the truck and the trailer. The search revealed three hidden compartments in the floorboards, which contained vacuum-sealed bags filled with marijuana. In total, 225.7 pounds of marijuana were seized. 295 F.Supp.2d at 1083.

Maltais was charged with one count of possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance. The district court denied his motion to suppress, concluding that the agents had reasonable suspicion to detain Maltais pending further investigation, and that the scope and duration of the detention did not violate the Fourth Amendment. The court remarked that "[i]t would have been extremely poor police work and incompetence to have done nothing and to have failed to take any steps to detain Maltais to further investigate the matter." 295 F.Supp.2d at 1089. Maltais entered a conditional plea of guilty, and this appeal followed.

II.

Maltais first argues that he and his vehicles were seized in violation of the Fourth Amendment because the officers did not have sufficient grounds to justify his detention before they located the marijuana. It is well established, of course, that a law enforcement officer may detain a person for investigation without probable cause to arrest if the officer "has a reasonable suspicion supported by articulable facts that criminal activity `may be afoot.'" United States v. Sokolow, 490 U.S. 1, 7, 109 S.Ct. 1581, 104 L.Ed.2d 1 (1989) (quoting Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 21, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968)). "Whether the particular facts known to the officer amount to an objective and particularized basis for a reasonable suspicion of criminal activity is determined in light of the totality of the circumstances." United States v. Garcia, 23 F.3d 1331, 1334 (8th Cir.1994). The district court's determination that "reasonable suspicion" existed is a matter that we review de novo. Ornelas v. United States, 517 U.S. 690, 699, 116 S.Ct. 1657, 134 L.Ed.2d 911 (1996).

Maltais correctly observes that general assertions of suspicion are not sufficient to justify detention. For example, "[a] report that a particular car is `suspicious' simply does not indicate whether its occupants may be engaged in criminal activity." Thompson v. Reuting, 968 F.2d 756, 760 (8th Cir.1992). Maltais asserts that because the various behaviors that aroused Danley's suspicion were innocent, and because some of the intelligence upon which Danley relied was not based on Danley's personal observations, there was no reasonable suspicion of wrongdoing based on articulable facts at the time of the investigative detention.

We disagree with Maltais that a reasonable suspicion may not be based in whole or in part on hearsay information. The Supreme Court long ago rejected the contention that reasonable cause for a temporary detention "can only be based on the officer's personal observations, rather than on information supplied by another person." Adams v. Williams, 407 U.S. 143, 147, 92 S.Ct. 1921, 32 L.Ed.2d 612 (1972). In particular, "an officer may rely on information provided by other officers and all the information known to a team of officers involved in the investigation to provide justification for a stop." United States v. Ortiz-Monroy, 332 F.3d 525, 529 (8th Cir.2003).

After reviewing Danley's encounter with Maltais, including the information that Danley received from fellow officers, the district court concluded that:

Agent Danley had far more than just a citizen's report of a "suspicious vehicle." Even before Maltais approached Agent Danley during the early morning hours on August 8, 2003, in remote northern North Dakota, Agent Danley specifically knew that (1) a truck and trailer matching the vehicles at the side of the road had gone through an inspection at the Dunseith, North Dakota, Port of Entry on June 10, 2003; (2) the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection Inspectors found several hidden compartments in Maltais' trailer commonly associated with drug trafficking operations; (3) a truck and trailer matching this description were reported by a local farmer to be driving in this area in the early morning hours; (4) Agent Danley had been provided with background information concerning Maltais and the suspected drug ring originating in Canada or on the west coast; (5) roads in this area cross the United States and Canadian border where there are no designated ports of entry and these roads can be easily driven by almost any vehicle; (6) the truck and trailer had Canadian license plates; and (7) the location was within 500 yards of the United States and Canadian border.

295 F.Supp.2d at 1086. We agree with the district court that based on this "constellation of facts," any law enforcement officer "would have reasonably concluded that Maltais may have been up to no good," and that the agents had "an articulable, reasonable suspicion that Maltais was likely...