U.S.A v. Rawlins

• Citation: 606 F.3d 73
• Decision Date: 26 May 2010
• Docket Number: No. 08-2948.,08-2948.
• Parties: UNITED STATES of Americav.Robert RAWLINS, Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Third Circuit

606 F.3d 73

UNITED STATES of Americav.Robert RAWLINS, Appellant.

No. 08-2948.

United States Court of Appeals, Third Circuit.

Submitted Pursuant to Third Circuit

L.A.R. 34.1(a) May 3, 2010.

Filed: May 26, 2010.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Mark D. Hodge, Esq., Hodge & Francois, St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, Counsel for Appellant.

Delia L. Smith, Esq., Office of United States Attorney, St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, Counsel for Appellee.

Before: SMITH, CHAGARES, and JORDAN, Circuit Judges.

OPINION

SMITH, Circuit Judge.

Robert Rawlins was a baggage handler for Worldwide Flight Services at Cyril E. King Airport on St. Thomas, United States Virgin Islands. He was caught using that position to help smuggle cocaine through the airport, and was eventually convicted of various drug crimes. Finding no error, we will affirm.

I.

“As required when reviewing convictions, we recite the relevant facts in the light most favorable to the government.” United States v. Leo, 941 F.2d 181, 185 (3d Cir.1991).

This appeal arises out of a conspiracy among employees at Cyril E. King Airport, and others, to smuggle cocaine onto commercial flights bound for the continental United States. The conspirators included Alric Thomas, a cocaine supplier; Dion Brookes, the station manager for a small airline called Air Sunshine; and airport baggage handlers Rawlins, Bernard Gabriel, Brent Donovan, Meleek Sylvester, and Mervin Dorival.

This group employed several methods to move cocaine through the airport. The method the conspirators used most often was what we will refer to for purposes of this opinion as “tag switching” or “tag pulling.” The word “tag” refers to the flight tags that airlines affix to checked luggage. All luggage to be loaded onto commercial aircraft requires such a tag. The switching the conspirators engaged in involved stealing flight tags from legitimately checked bags and affixing those tags to bags containing cocaine. This method allowed the cocaine to be smuggled into the cargo holds of U.S.-bound commercial airplanes.

The main workspace for the tag-switching operation was the airport's baggage room. It was located behind the ticket counters of several airlines, including Air Sunshine, as well as the Transportation Security Administration (“TSA”) inspection area. The room had two baggage belts, both of which held checked luggage intended for outgoing flights. A conspiring baggage handler was able to select a bag that was bound for a destination where he intended to direct the cocaine. He would remove the bag's flight tag, steal any valuables found inside, then discard the plundered bag. The stolen flight tag would then be taken to Air Sunshine's ticket counter or office, where Brookes was paid to hold unchecked, uninspected, untagged bags filled with cocaine.¹ The tag would be transferred to one of the drug bags, making it appear that the bag had been checked and inspected in the ordinary course. A baggage handler would then transport that bag to the baggage room and place it among other checked baggage. Finally, the bag containing drugs would be loaded onto the flight denoted on the flight tag, along with legitimately checked bags.

The earliest evidence of Rawlins's involvement in this operation pertained to the events of September 20, 2003. The day before, Thomas had given Sylvester three suitcases filled with cocaine, along with $60,000 in cash. Two bags were to be loaded onto a flight to Philadelphia; the third was destined for Newark. As agreed, Sylvester brought the suitcases to the airport on September 20. Brookes and Dorival took them and stored them in the Air Sunshine office. Brookes held the three bags in his office until Rawlins delivered the tags that would allow the two bags bound for Philadelphia to be loaded onto the plane. ² Either Rawlins or Brookes affixed the tags to the bags. Rawlins then carried the two bags to the baggage room.

Unfortunately for the conspirators, the tag pullers made a mistake that day. They failed to discard the legitimate Philadelphia-bound bags from which the two flight tags had been stolen. A baggage handler who was not involved in the conspiracy was loading those bags onto the plane when he noticed that they lacked the necessary flight tags. He and a colleague alerted TSA, which in turn ordered an X-ray scan of all luggage intended for the Philadelphia flight. The scan revealed the two “replacement” bags filled with cocaine. The third bag that Sylvester had delivered to the Air Sunshine office, however, remained there undiscovered. Sylvester contacted Rawlins and told him that the Air Sunshine office held a suitcase containing ten kilograms of cocaine. Rawlins agreed to retrieve the suitcase, and returned it to Sylvester around 7:00 or 7:30 that evening.

Rawlins's involvement in cocaine smuggling at the airport continued. On November 8, 2003, he removed a flight tag from a checked bag in the baggage room, placed it in his pocket, and took it to Brookes's office. He returned with a tagged blue bag, which he placed on the baggage belt. Later that day, officials in Newark, New Jersey intercepted a cocaine-filled bag that had been placed on Continental Flight 1902 from St. Thomas.³ Rawlins was also tied to a cocaine-filled suitcase discovered on February 21, 2004. Donovan obtained two tags and brought them to Brookes. Brookes informed him that he needed only one tag, so Donovan placed one tag on the drug bag and restored the other to the luggage from which it had been taken. Donovan testified that Rawlins was “involved with that transaction,” and that Rawlins took the tagged drug bag to the baggage room. This bag, too, was bound for Newark on Continental Flight 1902, but Customs and Border Protection (“CBP”) officers discovered and seized it before the flight departed.

The next relevant incident occurred on March 10, 2004. The day before, Sylvester had received two kilograms of cocaine from Thomas. Thomas instructed him to place the cocaine in a particular green suitcase that would be checked onto Flight 1902 by an unidentified female. Rawlins was slated to help Sylvester, but backed out at the last minute, leaving Sylvester to pack the cocaine into a suitcase by himself. Rawlins was present in the baggage room, however, along with Gabriel, as Sylvester packed the cocaine. Indeed, Sylvester asked Rawlins if he would look out for him while he packed the cocaine, and Rawlins told him to “go ahead.” Sylvester then built a wall of suitcases to conceal what he was doing from security cameras in the room. He placed the cocaine in the suitcase, and the suitcase made it onto the flight. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) agents had been tipped off about the bag, however, and the drugs were seized at Newark Airport. After this incident, Rawlins frequently remarked to Sylvester about how easy it was to place drugs onto airplanes, and begged to be put in contact with a supplier he could work with on his own.

Meanwhile, Sylvester informed Thomas that he no longer wished to assist with drug smuggling. When Thomas inquired about possible replacements, Sylvester told Thomas he would get back to him. On August 30, 2004, Sylvester called Thomas and told him he had found someone to help him. He called Rawlins the same day and arranged a meeting between himself, Rawlins, and Thomas. ⁴ Before Thomas arrived, Sylvester asked Rawlins if he had “work[ed] anything recently.” Rawlins responded that he had moved drugs through the airport on Wednesday, August 25, 2004. When Thomas arrived, Sylvester introduced him to Rawlins and the three men talked about smuggling drugs through the airport. Rawlins offered to help Thomas move drugs on American Airlines flights to Miami and New York, and the two exchanged cell phone numbers before parting ways.

There was also evidence corroborating Rawlins's involvement in the cocaine smuggling operation that was not attributed to a specific date. For example, Donovan testified that baggage handlers often acted as lookouts for each other while tag-switching occurred in the baggage room, and that Rawlins had served as a lookout for him in the past. Brookes identified Rawlins as one of the bag handlers whom Dorival would send to pick up cocaine-filled bags stored in the Air Sunshine office, though he did not say when or how often this occurred. He also testified that Rawlins once paid him $2,000 to hold a bag containing cocaine.

Rawlins and his cohorts were eventually arrested. A superseding indictment returned on January 13, 2005 charged Rawlins, Sylvester, Brookes, Dorival, Gabriel, and others with various drug crimes. Count One charged Rawlins and eleven others with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute five or more kilograms of cocaine, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 846. Rawlins was also charged in Counts Four, Five, Six, Seven, Ten, and Eleven with aiding and abetting possession of cocaine with intent to distribute. See 21 U.S.C. § 841. A jury convicted him on Counts One, Six, Seven, Ten, and Eleven. ⁵ Count Six related to the drugs seized on September 20, 2003; Count Seven to the drugs seized on November 8, 2003; Count Ten to the drugs seized on February 21, 2004; and Count Eleven to the drugs seized on March 10, 2004.

Rawlins was sentenced to 162 months in prison. He filed this timely appeal raising a grab bag of challenges to his conviction.⁶ Rawlins challenges the sufficiency of Count One of the indictment, and the sufficiency of the evidence against him on several other counts. He also contends that the District Court abused its discretion by admitting samples of cocaine into evidence at trial, because the government failed to establish an adequate chain of custody connecting the cocaine seized by authorities and the cocaine tested by government chemists.

II.

We begin with Rawlins's argument that the superseding indictment was invalid because Count One failed to allege a proper timeframe for the alleged conspiracy. Specifically, Count One alleged a...