Jones v. Yanta
| Decision Date | 31 March 2009 |
| Docket Number | Civil Action No. 07-1994 (RJL).,Civil Action No. 07-1996 (RJL).,Civil Action No. 07-1995 (RJL). |
| Citation | 610 F.Supp.2d 34 |
| Parties | Deniece JONES, Plaintiff, v. Stephanie YANTA, et al., Defendants. Mary R. Johnson, Plaintiff, v. Stephanie Yanta, et al., Defendants. Antoine B. Jones, Jr., Plaintiff, v. Stephanie Yanta, et al., Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of Columbia |
Deniece Jones, Brandywine, MD, pro se.
Antoine B. Jones, Jr., Brandywine, MD, pro se.
Mary Johnson, Brandywine, MD, pro se.
Kenneth Adebonojo, U.S. Attorney's Office, Corliss Vaughn Adams, Office of the Attorney General, Washington, DC, for Defendants.
These consolidated cases are before the Court on defendants' motions to dismiss. For the reasons discussed below, the motions will be granted.
Deniece Jones ("Mrs. Jones"), Mary R. Johnson ("Mrs. Johnson"), and Antoine B. Jones, Jr. ("Jones Jr."), are the wife, mother-in-law, and son, respectively, of Antoine B. Jones, Sr. ("Jones Sr."). Jones Sr. was one of several defendants in a criminal action brought in this court, and both the investigation of Jones Sr.'s activities and the prosecution of his criminal case are the context from which plaintiffs' claims arose:
As alleged in the Indictment, from at least sometime in 2003 through October 24, 2004, [Jones Sr.] and his co-conspirators acquired, repackaged, stored, processed, sold, and redistributed large quantities of cocaine and cocaine base, in the District of Columbia, the States of Maryland and Texas, the Republic of Mexico and elsewhere. It is further alleged that Jones [Sr.] was the primary supplier of cocaine and cocaine base to members of the organization in the District of Columbia and in the State of Maryland.
As part of their investigation into the alleged conspiracy, law enforcement agents utilized a number of investigative techniques, including surveillance, informants, installation of an electronic tracking device on Jones [Sr.'s] vehicle, search warrants issued to electronic communication service providers for text messages to or from cellular telephones used by Jones [Sr.] and an alleged coconspirator, and a Title III wire intercept. The covert portion of the investigation ended on October 24, 2005, with searches pursuant to warrants and arrests. At that time, drugs, drug paraphernalia, firearms, and significant quantities of cash were seized from the homes of a number of the defendants, as well as from an alleged "safe house" in Fort Washington, Maryland where 97 kilograms of cocaine, 3 kilograms of crack cocaine, and in excess of $800,000 was found.
United States v. Jones, 451 F.Supp.2d 71, 73-74 (D.D.C.2006), recons. denied, 511 F.Supp.2d 74 (D.D.C.2007). Jones Sr.'s first trial "ended in his acquittal on seventeen counts of using a communication facility to facilitate a drug trafficking offense and a hung jury with respect to thirteen similar counts and one count of conspiracy to distribute or possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance." United States v. Jones, 511 F.Supp.2d at 76. On retrial of the remaining counts, Jones Sr. was found guilty on one court of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine and 50 grams or more of cocaine base and was sentenced to a term of life imprisonment. His appeal is pending before the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
Mrs. Jones brings this civil rights action against the United States Department of Justice ("DOJ"), the Federal Bureau of Investigation ("FBI"), FBI Special Agents Stephanie Yanta ("Yanta"), Kellie O'Brien ("O'Brien") and Stephen Naugle ("Naugle"), Metropolitan Police Department Detectives Norma Home ("Home") and Steve Kirschner ("Kirschner"), and Assistant United States Attorneys Rachel Lieber ("Lieber") and John Geise ("Geise") under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Compl. at 1. She demands damages in the amount of $22,000,000. Id.
Mrs. Jones alleges that agents entered her house at 10870 Moore Street in Waldorf, Maryland, in the early morning hours of October 24, 2005 without a warrant, that agents "snatched [her] and [her] family out of [their] beds, pointed guns at [their] heads and made [then] lay on the floor" during the search. Compl. at 6. She states that the agents "took over 40 boxes of ... personal, private, and business documents" from the residence, id. at 7, and among these items were records "crucial to the continuance of [her] consulting business [and her] real estate investment business" but wholly unrelated to the criminal investigation, id. at 4. She alleges that she was "severely handicapped in [her] ability to continue [her] business affairs" without these records, and further alleges that her businesses were harmed because Special Agent Yanta "used information obtained through the wiretap to lie, harass, deceive, and interfere with [her] legitimate business partners." Id. at 5.
According to Mrs. Jones, Lieber denied her "the opportunity to visit with [her] husband ... while he was being detained at the [D.C.] Jail," and also deprived her of opportunities to communicate with Jones Sr. by other means. Compl. at 4. This situation apparently arises from Lieber's December 22, 2005 request to the Warden of the D.C. Jail that Jones Sr. "be placed in protective custody, based on growing concerns that Jones [Sr.]" was misusing his telephone privileges in a way that undermined "the safety of various individuals, and the integrity of the investigation" of his criminal activities. Mem. of P. & A. in Support of Fed. Defs.' Mot. to Dismiss ( ), Ex. C (December 22, 2005 Memorandum) at 1.
Mrs. Jones further alleges that Detective Kirschner and FBI agents are responsible for the placement of a "GPS tracking device on [her] personal auto," a Jeep Cherokee, "in violation of a Court Order" issued in Jones Sr.'s criminal case. Compl. at 3; see id. at 5. She asserts that the agents installed the device after the order had expired. Id. at 9. In addition, she contended that AUSA Geise presented "tainted GPS data" at trial. Id. at 3.
Mrs. Johnson brings this action against the DOJ, the FBI, Yanta, Lieber and Geise under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Compl. at 1. She demands damages of $1,000,000 for alleged violations of her constitutional rights. Id.
Mrs. Johnson rented the house at 12221 Brandywine Road in Brandywine, Maryland from her daughter and son-in-law, Jones Sr., and lived there with another daughter and two grandchildren. Compl. at 3. On October 24, 2005, Mrs. Johnson "was awakened by the sound of FBI agents and DC MPD detectives banging on [the] front door." Id. According to Mrs. Johnson, the agents "were yelling threats," pointed shotguns at her, "stormed the house and held [her], [her] daughter and two grandchildren (ages 10 and 11) at gunpoint." Id. The agents "were looking for [her] son-in-law (Antoine Jones, Sr.)," id., who, according to Mrs. Johnson, neither resided at nor visited the Brandywine Road house, id. at 5. The agents "proceeded to search the house and continued to hold [the occupants] at gunpoint," an event Mrs. Johnson described as a stressful ordeal for the household. Id. Since the events of October 24, 2005 and the subsequent decline of Mrs. Jones' businesses, Mrs. Johnson has been supporting Mrs. Jones financially on her retirement income. Id. at 4.
Jones Jr. brings this civil rights action against the United States Department of Justice, the FBI, FBI Special Agents Yanta, O'Brien and Naugle, and against Assistant United States Attorneys Lieber and Geise under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, and demands damages in the amount of $2,000,000. Compl. at 1.
Jones, Jr., formerly a student at Coppin State University in Baltimore, Maryland, states that he resided at the Moore Street residence and was among the occupants awakened in the early morning hours of October 24, 2005 and held at gunpoint while the search warrant was executed. Compl. at 4-5. He, too, alleges that the agents failed to present a warrant, that defendants seized items unrelated to the criminal investigation and failed to return them upon request, thus hampering the continued operation of the family's real estate and consulting businesses. Id. at 4. Further, Jones Jr. alleges that Yanta unlawfully monitored his telephone calls, including conversations with his father, id. at 6-7, and that Lieber denied him an opportunity to visit or otherwise contact his father while he was detained at the D.C. Jail, id. at 3. As a result of defendants' action, Jones Jr. allegedly has experienced mental anguish and has dropped out of school due to his inability to focus on his education. Id. at 3. Although Jones Jr. does not name Horne as a defendant in his action, he faults her for misrepresenting his parents' ownership of real estate, including an "uninhabitable shell" in Baltimore that was to be rehabilitated and made available to him as "a place close to school to live." Id. at 6. He alleges that the "negative publicity surrounding this investigation" prompted the contractor working on the Baltimore house to abandon the project. Id. Lastly, Jones Jr. challenges the validity of the search warrant for text messages and the wiretap, and accuses Yanta of "illegally eavesdropp[ing] on [his] personal, business and private conversations with [his] father." Id. at 7.
Mrs. Jones, Mrs. Johnson and Jones Jr. allege that the individual defendants have violated rules of professional conduct, have perjured themselves before the court, Grand Jury, or trial jury, and, with respect to AUSAs Lieber and Geise, have committed prosecutorial misconduct. Specifically, plaintiffs claim that defendants failed to disclose evidence favorable to Jones Sr.'s defense in violation of Brady...
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