U.S. v. Carrillo-Morales
| Decision Date | 22 July 1994 |
| Docket Number | C,CARRILLO-MORALE,No. 92-5720,92-5720 |
| Citation | 27 F.3d 1054 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Augustinarlos Prado-Yepez, Pedro Gallegos, Jr., and Rudy Louis Austin, Defendants-Appellants. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit |
Raymundo Aleman, San Antonio, TX (court-appointed), for Carrillo-Morales.
Luther H. Soules, III, Soules & Wallace, San Antonio, TX (court-appointed), for Gallegos.
Daniel P. McCarthy, San Antonio, TX (court-appointed), for R.L. Austin.
Mark Stevens, San Antonio, TX, for Prado-Yepez.
Mark R. Stelmach, Richard L. Durbin, Jr., Asst. U.S. Attys., James H. DeAtley, Acting U.S. Atty., San Antonio, TX, for U.S.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas.
Before GARWOOD, JOLLY and SMITH, Circuit Judges.
Defendants-appellants Augustin Carrillo-Morales (Carrillo), Carlos Prado-Yepez (Prado), Pedro Gallegos, Jr. (Gallegos), and Rudy Louis Austin (Austin) were convicted of, and sentenced for, conspiracy to possess, with intent to distribute, more than one hundred kilograms of marihuana, and of aiding and abetting each other in the commission of the underlying substantive offense. On appeal, Prado and Gallegos contend that the district court erred in denying their motions to suppress evidence obtained during an allegedly illegal detention and search by San Antonio police officers. Carrillo and Austin challenge the sufficiency of the evidence underlying their convictions. Finally, Prado and Carrillo raise issues relating to their sentences. We affirm.
On January 20, 1992, Officer John Langerlaan (Langerlaan) of the Narcotics Bureau of the San Antonio Police Department learned from a confidential informant that Prado was in San Antonio to conduct a narcotics transaction. Working with Sergeant Ralph Sramek (Sramek) of the Texas Department of Public Safety Narcotics Service, Langerlaan confirmed the informant's tip that Prado was staying in Room 124 of a particular La Quinta Inn there and was driving a red Pontiac with California license plates. 1 The officers established surveillance of Room 124 and Prado.
Sramek and Langerlaan later learned from United States Customs Agent Joe Cisneros that Prado was a documented narcotics trafficker from California who frequently used vehicles with hidden compartments to smuggle large amounts of marihuana, cocaine, and heroin from Mexico into the United States and to return large amounts of currency to Mexico. Agent Cisneros also informed the officers that Prado had a 1988 drug conviction.
On January 20, the officers observed Austin, a known narcotics trafficker, arrive at the La Quinta in a blue Chevrolet pickup truck and meet with Prado in the motel parking lot for about eight to ten minutes.
Later that day, the officers observed Prado and his wife take a woman, subsequently identified as Susan Harrison (Harrison) of California, to the San Antonio airport. At the airport, Sramek approached Harrison and identified himself as a narcotics officer. She was extremely nervous but allowed the officers to search her purse and luggage. Harrison informed Sramek that she had made two deliveries of marihuana from McAllen to San Antonio on January 14 and 19, 1992, driving a blue and beige Ford pickup truck. Her contact in San Antonio was a George Reynaga, who told her a man named Carlos would pay her and drive her to the airport; she had a phone number for her contact, who was Prado. 2 The address of the Crown Paint and Body Shop (body shop), 1414 West Avenue in San Antonio, was written on Harrison's plane ticket. She also had receipts for two motels in San Antonio; written on the back of one receipt was the telephone number for the La Quinta Inn where Prado was staying and the number 124. 3
On January 21, Prado and his wife moved to the Rodeway Inn Motel. 4 On the morning of January 22, officers observed Prado and his wife drive to 2046 West Craig in San Antonio, where they met with George Reynaga and Carrillo. At that address, the officers observed a blue and beige Ford pickup truck with a white camper shell matching the description given by Harrison of the vehicle in which she transported marihuana. Later that afternoon, the officers followed Prado and Maria Reynaga, George's wife, in a white Mitsubishi with California license plates, and Carrillo, in the Ford pickup truck, to 1122 Waverly in San Antonio. Carrillo parked the pickup truck in the driveway. Mrs. Reynaga got out of the Mitsubishi and went into the residence. 5 Carrillo and Prado checked the doors of the pickup to ensure that they were locked, then got into the Mitsubishi. Mrs. Reynaga joined them a few minutes later, and they returned to 2046 West Craig. Later that evening, the officers observed Reynaga and Carrillo stop by Prado's motel room, where they remained for approximately fifteen minutes.
On January 23, the officers observed Prado check out of the Rodeway Inn and take his wife to the airport, where he purchased a one-way ticket to Los Angeles for her. They observed him then travel to the body shop at 1414 West Avenue in San Antonio. Two buildings were at 1414 West Avenue: an office building for the body shop business and a garage shop adjoining. The buildings were similar in appearance, and were connected by an awning. The number 1414 was affixed to the shop building as well as to a sign hanging over the office door. Gallegos lived in the shop, which he claimed was 1418 West Avenue rather than 1414 West Avenue.
At the body shop, the officers saw Prado meet with Gallegos, the owner of the shop, and Austin arrive a short time later. Shortly before one o'clock, Prado was observed going to lunch at a nearby Kettle restaurant with Carrillo and George Reynaga. After lunch, Prado returned to the body shop in the red Pontiac. Reynaga drove Carrillo to within a few blocks of the body shop; Carrillo walked the short distance remaining. Austin, who had left the body shop earlier, returned at approximately 1:30 p.m.
Officers observed Prado give what appeared to be a set of keys to Carrillo, who left the shop on foot. Sergeant Sramek testified that Carrillo was constantly looking in every direction as he walked down the street as though he were worried about being followed. The officers attempting to follow him eventually lost sight of him. The officers saw that after Carrillo left, Gallegos and Austin stood outside the body shop, looking up and down the street. Carrillo returned to the body shop in the white Mitsubishi, which he drove directly into the garage area. Sergeant Walker of the Texas Department of Public Safety observed Austin and/or Gallegos close the garage door after the Mitsubishi entered; the garage door previously had remained open. 6 Officer Langerlaan testified that he observed Austin, Prado, and Gallegos look around the area surrounding the body shop in a suspicious manner.
Believing that the defendants were involved in an illegal drug-related activity, Langerlaan and Sramek called a meeting of the officers conducting surveillance to discuss the possibility of arresting the defendants and securing the premises. The surveillance force included approximately eight plain clothes officers. In addition, three or four uniformed police officers were called in for back up.
The officers observed Carrillo emerge from the body shop carrying a black bag and luggage. He placed the bags in the red Pontiac, which was parked underneath the awning separating the two buildings, and prepared to leave in the car with Prado. Believing Carrillo and Prado were about to leave with contraband, the officers decided to stop the car. 7 As officers were stopping Prado and Carrillo, Sramek and Sergeant Walker of the Department of Public Safety secured Gallegos, whom they observed running toward the back of the office area. Langerlaan approached the body shop area and attempted to open the garage door. When he was unable to do so, he heard a voice from inside the shop tell him to try the other door. When Langerlaan entered the shop, he observed Austin walking toward the white Mitsubishi. Austin was secured.
Agent Cisneros advised Prado of his constitutional rights in English and Spanish and obtained written consent from him to search the red Pontiac. Officers noticed a faint odor of marihuana in the trunk area, although no marihuana was found in the Pontiac. In a black bag belonging to Prado in the Pontiac's trunk, they found a set of keys to the Ford pickup Harrison had described. The pickup was later searched pursuant to a warrant; it contained marihuana in a false camper top. Also found in the red Pontiac was a note with Harrison's name and bank account number. During the protective sweep of the body shop, officers discovered a set of scales and marihuana in plain view.
Sramek and Langerlaan obtained a search warrant for 1414 West Avenue, as well as for the West Craig and Waverly residences. 8 They found 143 pounds of marihuana in the white Mitsubishi which was in the shop, 50 pounds of marihuana in 2 suitcases found in the uncovered cargo area of a Chevrolet Blazer which appeared to be undergoing some type of restoration, 30 pounds of marihuana in a trash can in Gallegos's residence, a large measuring scale in the Blazer, and various papers linking the defendants. 9 Approximately 130 pounds of marihuana were found in the hidden compartment located in the camper top of the blue and beige Ford pickup truck, which was parked at the Waverly address. 10 In all, officers seized 344.86 pounds of marihuana.
In an indictment filed February 5, 1992, a grand jury charged all four defendants with violations of 21 U.S.C. Sec. 846 (count one) and of 21 U.S.C. Sec. 841(a)(1) and 18 U.S.C. Sec. 2 (count two). Count one charged defendants with conspiracy to possess, with intent to distribute, over 100 kilograms of marihuana. Count two alleged that defendants...
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