United States v. Mendoza

• Decision Date: 19 November 2021
• Docket Number: CRIMINAL 1:20-cr-00439-LMM-RGV
• Parties: UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. ADOLFO FEDERICO MENDOZA, et al.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of Georgia

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
v.
ADOLFO FEDERICO MENDOZA, et al.

CRIMINAL No. 1:20-cr-00439-LMM-RGV

United States District Court, N.D. Georgia, Atlanta Division

November 19, 2021

MAGISTRATE JUDGE'S REPORT, RECOMMENDATION, AND ORDER

RUSSELL G. VINEYARD, UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE

Defendants Adolfo Federico Mendoza (“A. Mendoza”), Eliezer Mendoza Martinez (“E. Mendoza”), and Ricardo Jimenez Gonzalez (“Jimenez”) are charged in a two-count indictment with conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 846, and possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1) and 18 U.S.C. § 2. [Doc. 33].^[1] E. Mendoza has filed a motion to suppress statements, [Doc. 72], and a motion to suppress evidence, [Doc. 73], which was later perfected, [Doc. 79]. A. Mendoza adopted E. Mendoza's motion to suppress evidence. [Doc. 75].^[2] The government filed a response in opposition to defendants' motion to suppress

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evidence, [Doc. 81], and E. Mendoza filed a reply, [Doc. 82]. An evidentiary hearing was held on the motions to suppress on May 27, 2021. See [Doc. 84].^[3] After the evidentiary hearing, the parties filed post-hearing briefs. [Docs. 97, 99, 105, 107, 109 & 110]. For the reasons that follow, it is RECOMMENDED that defendants' motions, [Docs. 72, 73, 75, & 79], be DENIED.

I. STATEMENT OF FACTS

In August 2020, Homeland Security Investigations (“HSI”) agents in Atlanta were informed by their counterparts in Charlotte that approximately 50 kilograms of methamphetamine had been seized from a vehicle that had been tracked during a drug trafficking investigation to a business known as Mendoza Pallets, LLC (“Mendoza Pallets”), located at 1185 Willingham Drive, East Point, Georgia, which was suspected of being used as a location for drug distribution. (Tr. at 55, 57). HSI Atlanta agents began investigating the location to which the vehicle had traveled, ^[4]

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an on October 19, 2020, at approximately 10:47 a.m., agents who were conducting surveillance at 1185 Willingham Drive saw an orange Chevrolet Camaro arrive at the location. (Tr. at 56-57, 62). The driver, later identified as Jimenez, exited the Camaro and went inside the building through a door for Suite 1185. (Tr. at 57). A few minutes later, Jimenez exited the warehouse carrying a large cardboard box, accompanied by an individual subsequently identified as E. Mendoza. (Id.). Jimenez placed the box in the back seat of the Camaro and drove away from the warehouse. (Id.). E. Mendoza walked back inside Suite 1185. (Tr. at 58).

HSI agents contacted the Georgia State Patrol (“GSP”) and requested their assistance in conducting a traffic stop of Jimenez if warranted based on their independent investigation. (Id.). A GSP Trooper subsequently stopped Jimenez's vehicle at an apartment complex, and upon conducting a search of the Camaro, located the cardboard box that Jimenez had carried out of Suite 1185 in the rear passenger seat. (Tr. at 59-60). When the box was opened, it was found to contain approximately 10 kilograms of methamphetamine. (Tr. at 59). Jimenez was

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arrested and transported to the Brookhaven Police Department where he waived his Miranda^[5] rights and was interviewed. (Id.; Gov. Ex. 5).

Jimenez told investigating agents that the location from which he obtained the 10 kilograms of methamphetamine was a business known as Mendoza Pallets. (Tr. at 60). Jimenez was shown a photograph of the door through which he entered the premises, stenciled with the number 1185, and he confirmed that he obtained the narcotics inside that suite. (Id.). Jimenez said that he picked up the box containing methamphetamine from a person he knew as “Primo” inside Mendoza Pallets, and that he was supposed to deliver the box to a third party whose name, as saved in his phone contacts, was “Diente, ” who was located inside the apartment complex where Jimenez had been stopped and arrested. (Tr. at 60, 67, 124).

After learning that Jimenez admitted obtaining the methamphetamine from Mendoza Pallets, HSI Special Agent Roy C. Rutherford (“Agent Rutherford”) began working on an application for a federal search warrant for the premises at approximately 12:20 to 12:30 p.m. (Tr. at 54, 60-61). In his affidavit supporting the application for the search warrant, Agent Rutherford

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included information about the seizure of the 50 kilograms of methamphetamine in August 2020 by Charlotte HSI agents, the surveillance conducted at 1185 Willingham Drive earlier that morning, the seizure of methamphetamine from Jimenez's vehicle, and the statements Jimenez made about having obtained the methamphetamine from Mendoza Pallets. (Tr. at 61-62; Gov. Ex. 5). Agent Rutherford finalized his affidavit around 3:00 p.m. and believed that the application for a search warrant already had been, or soon would be, sent to a United States Magistrate Judge for review. (Tr. at 63).

While Agent Rutherford was preparing his affidavit for the search warrant application, other HSI agents and task force officers were attempting to conduct covert surveillance at 1185 Willingham Drive, (Tr. at 64-65), which proved to be difficult because there was not adequate public space across from the facility, in the front or back of the building, to avoid detection by the occupants of the building, (Tr. at 65-66, 134-35). During their surveillance, agents observed a lot of activity at the location, including foot traffic as well as vehicles arriving at and departing from the premises. (Tr. at 68, 137). Agents saw an unidentified man enter the business through the door to Suite 1185 and meet with E. Mendoza and also saw several individuals leave the premises with a box or bag. (Tr. at 68). HSI agents requested assistance from the GSP to follow and attempt to stop some of

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those individuals, but it became increasingly difficult to adequately cover each vehicle that was coming and going from the premises. (Tr. at 68-69, 137). Agents believed that each time a marked patrol car stopped a subject to determine whether that subject was carrying contraband away from the premises, it increased the risk that their presence at the premises would be compromised. (Tr. at 68-69, 137). Just before 3:24 p.m., the GSP notified HSI that it could no longer provide enough coverage to investigate all the vehicles coming and going from the premises to guard against the movement or destruction of evidence. (Tr. at 69, 138).

During the time that Jimenez was being questioned at the Brookhaven Police Department following his arrest, agents observed that he was receiving repeated calls on his cell phone from contacts saved as “Primo, ” whom Jimenez had identified as the source of the methamphetamine, as well as “Diente, ” whom he had identified as the intended recipient. (Tr. at 64, 67, 136, 143-44). Based on their training and experience, agents believed that it was only a matter of time before Primo and Diente would know that Jimenez had been arrested since he did not complete the delivery of the drugs and that there was a strong likelihood that any methamphetamine or evidence of drug distribution at Mendoza Pallets

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would be destroyed or moved from the premises as more time passed. (Tr. at 67-68, 136-37).

Based on their belief that there was an increasing likelihood that evidence would be destroyed or removed, agents entered the premises of Mendoza Pallets at approximately 3:24 p.m., before the search warrant was signed, to conduct a sweep and secure the location in anticipation of the execution of the search warrant. (Tr. at 63-64, 68-69, 122-23, 138). The premises included four office suites- 1185, 1189, 1193, and 1195- and a shared 25, 000 square foot warehouse space. (Tr. at 69-70). Each office suite was accessible through separate doors, both from the street at the front of the building and from inside the warehouse. (Tr. at 70-71). The office suites were not connected to one another. (Id.). The warehouse space was visible to the public and accessible through open truck bays at the back of premises. (Tr. at 71-72, 145).

Agents entered the building simultaneously through the front and back of the building and encountered approximately eight or nine warehouse employees and detained them by placing them in handcuffs for officer safety and swept the entire premises looking for other individuals. (Tr. at 69, 145, 148). Agents entered the warehouse space through open, unlocked truck bays at the back of the building, (Tr. at 79-80, 145), and immediately saw and detained E. Mendoza, (Tr. at 73, 147-48).

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Around the time E. Mendoza was detained, agents also located a cellular telephone inside a cupholder on a forklift that E. Mendoza had been operating when agents apprehended him. (Tr. at 83, 148).

As the agents conducting the sweep moved from the back of the warehouse to the front, they encountered unlocked doors leading from the warehouse into each of the front offices, including Suites 1185 and 1189. (Tr. at 80, 151). While looking for people inside of Suite 1185, agents discovered a large amount of a white crystal substance, later determined to be methamphetamine, readily visible inside a closet within that suite. (Tr. at 83, 152). At that time, the narcotics were not seized, moved, taken, or physically altered from their original location in the closet. (Tr. at 90-91, 130). Agents secured that space to ensure that no evidence was moved or destroyed in anticipation of the execution of a search warrant. (Tr. at 130).

While some agents and officers entered through the back of the building, (Tr. at 72-73), another group of agents, including Agent Rutherford, entered through the front door to Suite 1189, (Tr. at 74). A secretary for Mendoza Pallets, Maria Flores (“Flores”), let Agent Rutherford into the front office space inside Suite 1189 and voluntarily answered questions while the other agents were sweeping the rest of the...