United States v. Forbicetta, 73-1974 Summary Calendar.
| Decision Date | 02 November 1973 |
| Docket Number | No. 73-1974 Summary Calendar.,73-1974 Summary Calendar. |
| Citation | 484 F.2d 645 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Susan Jill FORBICETTA, Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit |
Jack Freed, Miami Beach, Fla., for defendant-appellant.
Robert W. Rust, U. S. Atty., Miami, Fla., for plaintiff-appellee.
Before GEWIN, COLEMAN and MORGAN, Circuit Judges.
Rehearing and Rehearing En Banc Denied November 2, 1973.
In a Bench trial, Miss Forbicetta was convicted of the knowing, intentional and unlawful importation of cocaine in violation of 21 U.S.C., § 952(a), and of the knowing, intentional, and unlawful possession with intent to distribute cocaine in violation of 21 U.S.C., § 841(a)(1).
It could not have been denied that on November 21, 1972 the appellant arrived at Miami International Airport on a flight from Bogota, Colombia, carrying, while concealed on her person, 2½ pounds of cocaine. An attack upon the validity of the search which discovered the cocaine provided the only hope of avoiding a conviction. The search was found valid, we agree, and the convictions are affirmed.
This was a border search, accomplished at the very time the appellant was entering the United States from abroad. The evidence reflected that according to the experience of customs officials at Miami, a high percentage of the individuals discovered in the act of attempting to smuggle cocaine at the Miami International Airport arrived on flights from Bogota; the American women discovered in this activity were usually young, clean looking, and traveling alone; women discovered carrying cocaine on their persons usually wore loose-fitting dresses to conceal the bulkiness of the packages hidden beneath their clothing; usually when an official could not see the contours of a feminine figure under loose-fitting dresses, even when the subject was in a bending position, the wearer generally had something strapped to her waist; individuals attempting to smuggle cocaine usually carried only one suitcase and no items to declare so as to clear customs quickly; it had been observed that it was very unusual for young people to go on vacations to Colombia if they had no relatives there; and the usual airline female traveler ordinarily wore tight-fitting clothes.
In this context Miss Forbicetta arrived from Colombia, traveling alone, with one suitcase, and no liquor or other items requiring customs inspection. She was young (age 21), thin, clean looking, and attractive. She was wearing a loose-fitting dress. When she bent to pick up her suitcase, the dress revealed no contours of her figure.
The customs official then questioned Miss Forbicetta. Her passport revealed that she was from Brooklyn. She said that she had been a bank teller, was unemployed, and gone to Colombia for a vacation, and had no relatives in Colombia.
She was then referred to two female customs inspectors. They, in the presence of none others, in a room which had no windows, asked the appellant to remove her dress and slip. The customs inspectors then could easily see that something was concealed under the remaining girdle. Upon removal of that garment there appeared seven large packets, containing the 2½ pounds of cocaine.
Under an abundance of precedent, this was a lawful border search, United States v. Thompson, 5 Cir., 1973, 475 F.2d 1359; United States v. Skipwith, 5 Cir.,...
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