United States v. Fletcher
| Decision Date | 28 November 2012 |
| Docket Number | No. 3:11-00083-15,3:11-00083-15 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff, v. CARLOS ANTWAN FLETCHER, Defendant. |
| Court | United States District Courts. 6th Circuit. United States District Court of Middle District of Tennessee |
MEMORANDUM
The United States filed this action against the Defendant Carlos Antwan Fletcher and others with charges of conspiracy to engage in drug trafficking and the possession as well as brandishing of a firearm in furtherance of the drug conspiracy.
Before the Court is the Defendant's motions to suppress (Docket Nos. 211, 385 and 441) contending, in sum, that the Government agents improperly seized evidence from his residence and during the search of his residence the agents obtained incriminating responses from him without Miranda1 warnings. Thus, the Defendant seeks suppression of all evidence obtained as the results of the search of his residence and his arrest. In opposition, the Government contends, in essence: (1) that the search of the Defendant's residence was pursuant to a warrant based upon probable cause; (2) that the agent's questions of the Defendant were on the scene questioning about his residence that is permissible under Miranda; (3) that the Defendant's statements about weapons at the residence and his ownership of drugs were voluntary; and (4) that the Defendant reiterated his possession of drugs after his arrest and Miranda warning.
A. Review of the Record On April 14, 2011, Magistrate Judge E. Clifton Knowles issued a search warrant for the Defendant's residence 1225 Kermit Drive, Nashville, Tennessee based upon the affidavit of Kenneth M. Powers, a Task Force Officer in the Drug Enforcement Administration. Powers's lengthy affidavit detailed a federal investigation since June 2010 that included intercepted telephone calls pursuant to court-authorized Title III wiretaps as well as DEA agents' physical surveillance and information from a confidential source, a key person in a major drug conspiracy. Identical affidavits were submitted for eight other premises identified in this investigation. Judge Knowles previously issued search warrants for all nine Target Premises on April 3, 2011, but the warrants were returned unexecuted because the ten-day period to execute them had expired. Powers's affidavit includes the statement: "Based upon the ongoing interceptions over two telephones used by two targets of the investigation, your Affiant believes the crimes being investigated remain ongoing." (Docket Entry No. 413-1, Powers Affidavit at 8).
At the end of June 2010, a confidential source ("CS-1") was arrested for possession of a kilogram of cocaine and "agreed to cooperate in the hopes of not being prosecuted and has since been an FBI cooperating source." Id. CS-1 "admitted to FBI agents that he/she had transported a load of forty kilograms of cocaine from Atlanta, Georgia to Nashville, Tennessee at request of Zeeshan Khalid Syed, aka 'Sunny,'" the lead defendant in this action. Id. at 12. CS-1 told agents that Syed had been directing "the distribution of kilogram quantities of cocaine since at least early 2007." Id.
CS-1 also told DEA agents that co-defendants Mario Gonzalez and Daniel Medina received kilograms cocaine shipments from Mexico that Gonzalez delivered to Syed for theNashville area. Id. According to CS-1, Syed also receives shipments of cocaine from co-defendant Aldo Villarreal. For nine months, at Defendant's Syed's request, CS-1 counted the proceeds of drug sales at Target Premises 5, and "the amount of drug proceeds initially ranged from $75,000-$ 150,000 each time and increased to approximately $300,000," with as much as $500,000 counted on one occasion. Id. at 12-13.
Based upon independently corroborated information, Powell deemed CS-1 reliable and credible citing CS-l's "making recorded phone calls at the direction of and witnessed by Agents, surveillance by Agents, and the content of intercepted calls over seven court-authorized wiretaps." Id. Based on that information, DEA agents commenced their investigation of the Defendants.
Beginning on or about June 29, 2010, the agents investigated multiple suspects and multiple locations, including the Defendant's residence. Id. at 12. The Honorable Chief Judge Todd J. Campbell issued seven Title III wiretaps on telephones tied to co-defendants Gonzalez, Medina, Syed and Rodney Reed. Id. at 10-11. Over a six month period beginning in November 2010, agents intercepted these telephone calls. Judge Campbell later approved several extensions on the Title III wiretaps, and telephone calls between Reed and Syed up to April 18, 2011. Id. The ongoing intercepted telephone calls between Reed and Syed led Powers to believe that "the crimes being investigated [were] ongoing." Id. at 8.
On multiple occasions, DEA agents physically observed the target suspects at the nine different Target Premises, including the Defendant's residence. The agents concluded that Syed was a "multi-kilogram cocaine and marijuana distributor in the Nashville, Tennessee area," and that Rodney Reed received those drugs from Syed to distribute to Reed's customers. Id. at 9. Theagents observed Reed's high level involvement in drug trafficking throughout their investigation. Reed was repeatedly seen at the Defendant's residence that agents viewed as one of several stash houses of drugs in the Nashville area. Of Reed's observed activities was on June 28, 2010, trip by CS-1 to Atlanta, Georgia, at Syed's request to pick up forty kilograms of cocaine. Id. at 13-14. When CS-1 picked up the cocaine, Syed told CS-1 to deliver the cocaine to Reed who took the delivery at Target Premises 3. Id.
On September 8, 2010, Syed asked CS-1 to borrow his gold Lexus SUV that CS-1 believed was for Syed's travel to Atlanta to "oversee the transportation of cocaine back to Nashville." Id. at 14. Two days later, DEA agents physically observed Syed in Atlanta driving this Lexus SUV that was closely followed by a white Mercedes Benz. Id. Agents followed Syed and the two vehicles to Nashville to Target Premises 7. Id. An hour later, Reed arrived at Target Premises 7 and took possession of the Mercedes Benz. Id. Surveillance was unable to follow Reed due to Reed's counter surveillance maneuvers. Id. at 15.
On December 14, 2010, "a series of calls were intercepted in which Syed directed Reed to collect drug proceeds and drop them off to an unidentified male." Id. Later that day, DEA agents intercepted telephone calls in which "Syed instructed Reed to meet with associates of Gonzalez to offload approximately 3-4 kilograms of cocaine from a concealed compartment in their vehicle." Id. at 15-16. Agents then observed Reed, Gonzalez and his associates "in the vicinity of Target Premises 3." Id. at 16. "Calls were then intercepted in which Gonzalez' associates identify a surveillance vehicle." Id. Syed immediately contacted Reed who began driving through the neighborhood around Target Premises 3 "in an attempt to locate the surveillance vehicle." Reed eventually told Syed "that he will take Gonzalez's associates to adifferent stash house where they would be safer." Id.
On December 22, 2010, intercepted calls revealed that "money was being collected by Reed and given to unidentified carriers to take it back to Mexico." Id. DEA agents physically observed Reed leave Target Premises 2 in a silver Pontiac and later meet a driver of a gold Chevrolet Suburban bearing a Mexico license plate. Id. Agents had previously associated this Chevrolet Suburban vehicle with Gonzalez, one of Syed's suppliers. Id. Reed and the driver of the Suburban then went to Target Premises 1, where after an hour, the garage door opened, and agents observed Reed's Pontiac and the Suburban with Mexico tags enter. Id. Shortly thereafter, a Tennessee highway patrol trooper conducted a traffic stop of the Suburban, and "found a hidden compartment inside the Suburban that contained $83,432," that agents believed to be "collected drug proceeds from cocaine sales from Syed and Reed." Id. at 16-17.
On February 23, 2011, agents physically observed Reed at Target Premises 1 and intercepted a telephone call in which an unidentified male asked Reed for "some purp," and "some little knock down ... something that real strong," that agents interpreted to be marijuana. Id. at 18. This person then asked "if Reed could bring it with him when he came to meet the unidentified male." Id. "Reed agreed, stating 'I'm right here waiting now.'" Id. Agents then followed Reed, who was driving a rental car, to a Shell gasoline station where Reed met with the unidentified male. Id.
On February 28, 2011, agents intercepted a series of telephone calls between Reed and Syed who "discuss[ed] money owed to Syed's sources of supply." Id. at 18-19. During these calls, Syed told Reed and later stated, "everybody wants their money before they give you anything..." Id. at 19. Two and ahalf hours later, in another telephone call, Reed told Syed, Id. Less than an hour later, in another telephone call, Reed told Syed that he would meet with co-defendant Maurice Ferguson before meeting Syed. Id. A half an hour later, Reed told Syed in a telephone conversation that he was in route to meet Syed, and DEA surveillance "confirmed that Reed and Syed then met at Target Premises 7." Id.
On March 13, 2011, DEA agents intercepted a telephone call in which an unidentified male told Reed that "he wanted to meet with him in about one and a half to two hours to give him money." Id. at 20. About an hour later, agents observed Reed leave Target Premises 6. Id. About two hours after the initial call, another call was intercepted in which "Reed told the unidentified male that Reed would bring the unidentified male 'some more.'" Id. An hour later, Reed drove to Target Premises 2, and shortly thereafter, drove to a Home Depot. Id.
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