United States v. Canchola
| Decision Date | 29 November 2021 |
| Docket Number | 3:21-cr-00014-HZ |
| Parties | UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff, v. ARMANDO MARTINEZ CANCHOLA Defendant. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of Oregon |
Scott Asphaug Acting United States Attorney District of Oregon Paul T. Maloney Assistant United States Attorney Attorneys for Plaintiff
Ernest Warren, Jr. Warren & Sugarman Attorney for Defendant
MARCO A. HERNÁNDEZ United States District Judge Defendant Armando Martinez Canchola moves to suppress evidence seized during a search of a hotel room, arguing that the search violates the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution. For the reasons below, the Court denies Defendant's motion.
Special Agent Dixon is a special agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration. As part of a larger investigation, Special Agent Dixon and his team identified and arrested an individual-referred to as “CD1”-involved in drug trafficking. Through interviewing CD1, they obtained information about Defendants McLaughlin and Canchola. Specifically, CD1 stated that Defendants were involved in trafficking heroin and methamphetamine. Defendant Canchola was a truck driver who would transport drugs in both his truck and passenger vehicles from California to Defendant McLaughlin in the Portland area. They would meet at hotels to conduct their drug transactions. At one transaction Defendant Canchola was with a woman who had a firearm. CD1 also provided officers with phone numbers for Defendants Canchola and McLaughlin.
Special Agent Dixon was able to corroborate CD1's statements. They confirmed that Defendant Canchola is a commercial truck driver based on his California driver's license designation. Special Agent Dixon was also able to confirm that the amount of drugs and the amount of money exchanged as described by CD1 were consistent with the prices at the time of the transaction. The phone number identified by CD1 was used by Defendant Canchola on financial records. CD1's statements that Defendant McLaughlin was trafficking drugs out of hotels was consistent with information from CD2, a different informant who conducted a controlled purchase of methamphetamine from Defendant McLaughlin at a hotel. CD2 arranged the transaction over communications with the cell phone number that was identified by CD1. CD2 also observed Defendant McLaughlin's vehicle at the time-a BMW X5.
In addition, Special Agent Dixon obtained call detail records for the phones that were identified as belonging to Defendants Canchola and McLaughlin. The records showed- consistent with CD1's statements-that both co-defendants were in contact with each other. Basic location data from the records also revealed that Defendant Canchola had been in both Oregon and California and that both men were in contact with one another when Defendant Canchola was travelling to and in Oregon.
After obtaining all this information, Special Agent Dixon applied for and was granted a search warrant for geolocation data for the cell phones belonging to Defendants Canchola and McLaughlin. When he received the warrant on November 19, 2020, Defendant McLaughlin's phone was no longer in service. But on November 20, 2020, geolocation information showed Defendant Canchola's phone moving from Sacramento, California, into southern Oregon, and then travelling further north toward Portland. On November 21, 2020, they ultimately located the phone in Tigard, Oregon, in an area off of Highway 99 that included hotels.
Officers arrived at the Best Western hotel in Tigard and observed Defendant McLaughlin's BMW X5 in the parking lot, the same car which was identified by CD2 when they conducted the controlled purchase of methamphetamine. They also noticed that there was a car with a California license plate in the lot. Some investigators maintained exterior surveillance while Special Agent Dixon and others went into the hotel lobby to address the clerk. After identifying himself as law enforcement to the hotel clerk, Special Agent Dixon informed the clerk that he believed there was a drug transaction taking place in the hotel and asked to review the guest roster to identify any known suspects.
When reviewing the guest roster, Special Agent Dixon found the name of Defendant Becky Saelee and asked to see any records associated with her reservation. Defendant Saelee as well as Defendant Canchola had completed a COVID-19 screening form that was required by the hotel for all guests. Special Agent Dixon also learned that they were staying in room 330.
An agent conducting surveillance on room 330 notified Special Agent Dixon that a woman-who would later be identified as Defendant Taryn Coleman-had left the hotel room. The agents returned to the hotel lobby in protective vests labeled “DEA” or “Police” and detained Defendant Coleman in the lobby. She reported to agents that she had left room 300, which was inconsistent with the observation of the officer maintaining surveillance of room 330. Agents confiscated her cell phone and asked if there were any other people in the room she had left. Defendant Coleman confirmed that there were three other people.
One agent remained with Defendant Coleman in the lobby while Special Agent Dixon, a task force officer, and an agent went upstairs to room 330. Special Agent Dixon obtained a key to the hotel room from the clerk. The agents had planned to conduct a “knock-and-talk.” In light of his knowledge that someone had already left the room, Special Agent Dixon thought the best approach was to knock on the door and encounter the people inside the room because these transactions can move and change quickly. In his experience, drug trafficking transactions are typically very fast. Drugs can be destroyed, consumed, and hidden. They are inherently dangerous and can involve firearms. The drug transaction here also presented a danger to the other occupants of the hotel. And the other evidence of the crimes at issue-including the actual meeting between traffickers and cell phone data-are fleeting or can be easily destroyed.
Special Agent Dixon was armed and had his handgun at the “low ready” as he approached the door. He knocked on the door and did not hear a response. When he knocked a second time, he heard a woman ask “who is it?” One of the agents responded “Chris.” He then heard multiple voices having a discussion. He also heard movement and what sounded like shuffling, walking, or moving feet. According to Special Agent Dixon, these sounds could mean a variety of things, including moving objects like furniture or clothes, trying to conceal things, or moving drugs to a place where they can be easily destroyed.
Special Agent Dixon then knocked on the door much louder and in a commanding voice identified himself as “Police, DEA.” The door then opened a few inches, and Special Agent Dixon saw Defendant Saelee. A latch on the door kept it from opening all the way. Special Agent Dixon then told Defendant Saelee that he needed her to open the door. But she did not say anything and closed the door. Special Agent Dixon then heard additional shuffling, movement, and whispering. He pounded on the door again and demanded that it be opened. He testified that he was concerned about both the destruction of evidence and the safety of officers and hotel occupants. Special Agent Dixon then attempted to open the door with a hotel key that he had obtained earlier from the clerk. According to his testimony, the light flashed green but the door would not open. Agents continued knocking until Defendant Saelee opened the door again.
Once the door opened, Defendant Saelee put her hands up and backed away into the small closet next to the door. Special Agent Dixon saw Defendants Canchola and McLaughlin standing in the doorway of the bathroom inside the hotel room. Special Agent Dixon instructed them to show their hands and directed them out of the room into the hallway. Special Agent Dixon also saw what he believed to be packages of methamphetamine and stacks of currency on the coffee table. Once all three individuals were secured by his partners, Special Agent Dixon entered the room and conducted a safety sweep for other people or obvious threats. After completing the safety sweep, Special Agent Dixon left the room and closed the door behind him. Defendants Saelee, Canchola, and McLaughlin were then escorted to the hotel's breakfast nook, where post-Miranda interviews were conducted. Special Agent Dixon returned to his office to draft an affidavit for a search warrant to search the hotel room and vehicles in the parking lot.
On November 22, 2020, a magistrate judge signed a criminal complaint and issued an arrest warrant for Defendant Canchola. On January 21, 2021, the grand jury returned an indictment charging Defendant Canchola with Possession with Intent to Distribute Heroin under 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1), (b)(1)(A)(i); Possession with Intent to Distribute Methamphetamine under 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1), (b)(1)(A)(viii); and Maintaining a Drug Involved Premises under 21 U.S.C. § 856(a). Indictment, ECF 58. Defendant now moves to suppress the evidence seized during the November 21, 2020 search of the hotel room, arguing that the warrantless search violated the Fourth Amendment.
Defendant argues that Special Agent Dixon's search of the hotel room without a warrant violated the Fourth Amendment.[1] Def. Mot. 5. The Government responds by arguing that the exigency of the situation justified a warrantless search in this case. Gov't Resp. 5. The Court agrees with the Government.
The Fourth Amendment provides:
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and...
To continue reading
Request your trial