United States v. Reis
| Decision Date | 16 June 2021 |
| Docket Number | 4:20-CR-40123-KES |
| Parties | UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff, v. TAYN CHRISTIAN REIS, Defendant. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of South Dakota |
REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION
Defendant Tayn Christian Reis is before the court on an indictment charging him with theft of a firearm from a federal firearms licensee, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(u), and possession of a stolen firearm, in violation for 18 U.S.C § 922(j). See Docket No. 1. Mr. Reis filed a motion to suppress certain evidence and a memorandum in support thereof on April 27, 2021. See Docket Nos 25 & 26. The United States (“government”) resists the motion with a response filed May 7, 2021. See Docket No. 28. After the evidentiary hearing held in this matter, the parties submitted supplemental briefs. See Docket Nos. 39 & 42. This matter has been referred to this magistrate judge for holding an evidentiary hearing and recommending a disposition pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1)(B) and the October 16, 2014 standing order of the Honorable Karen E. Schreier, district judge.
An evidentiary hearing was held on May 11, 2021. Mr. Reis was there in person along with his lawyer, Amanda Kippley. The government was represented by its Assistant United States Attorney, Jennifer Mammenga. Three witnesses testified, and nine exhibits were received into evidence. From this testimony and these exhibits, the court makes the following findings of fact.
On September 4, 2020, at approximately 10:00 a.m., Mr. Taylor the manager of Last Chance Auctions (“LCA”) in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, arrived at work and discovered a number of firearms had been stolen. Mr. Taylor contacted one of the owners of LCA, Mr. Larson, who in turn reported the break-in to police. See Docket No. 26-1 at p. 1.
At 10:13 a.m., Minnehaha County Sheriff's Department Deputy Paul Schuster responded to LCA. Deputy Schuster observed a few long guns remaining at LCA. Mr. Taylor told Deputy Schuster that he had not touched any of the guns yet. Mr. Taylor explained to Deputy Schuster that the missing guns had been inventoried and their serial numbers recorded in a database. Deputy Schuster requested assistance from Minnehaha County Sheriff's Office detectives and the Sioux Falls Crime Lab. See id.
LCA supplied law enforcement with motion-activated surveillance video footage of a man breaking into the building and tampering with other security cameras inside LCA at around 4:45 a.m. on September 4, 2020. The man was White and wearing a hat, headlamp, balaclava or face covering, long-sleeve shirt, pants, kneepads, shoes, and gloves. The video showed the suspect tearing a security camera from the wall in the office area of LCA. The suspect then went into the main portion of the LCA building and looked at the various property displayed there. See id. at pp. 1, 3, 9.
Mr. Taylor assisted Minnehaha County Sheriff's Detective Lammer in determining how many guns had been stolen. Mr. Taylor advised Detective Lammer the guns in the jobsite box were at LCA on consignment from their respective owners for an upcoming auction. He informed Detective Lammer that LCA was a Federal Firearms Licensed (FFL) dealer, and all the guns stored in the jobsite box were documented in their FFL book. Mr. Taylor showed Detective Lammer the FFL book, which contained descriptions and serial numbers of all firearms on the premises. See id. at p. 3.
Mr. Taylor printed out a list of guns supposed to be stored in the jobsite box, and Detective Lammer and Mr. Taylor worked through the list to confirm which firearms were still in or around the jobsite box using serial numbers. Based upon that inventory, Detective Lammer and Mr. Taylor determined 24 guns had been stolen. Detective Lammer included a detailed list of the stolen guns in his report; that list includes LCA lot number assigned to the firearm, description, serial number, owner, and approximate value. One firearm's serial number was missing from the FFL book. See id. at p. 4.
Further investigation revealed an ATV had been taken from LCA. Tracks from the ATV led to a nearby construction site, where the ATV was located. Workers at the construction site told police the ATV was already there when they arrived at 7:30 that morning. Id. at pp. 1-2, 5.
Detective Lammer and Deputy Schuster began tracking the ATV back from the construction site. The tracks appeared to come from the direction of LCA. Approximately 100 yards away from the location where the ATV was found, Detective Lammer located tire tracks that appeared to have been left by a vehicle. This second set of tracks went over the ATV tracks and appeared to come into the construction site area from the road east of LCA, circled around, and left in the same direction from which they came. See id. at p. 5.
Deputy Schuster followed the ATV tracks and located several items in tall grass near the vehicle tire tracks, including a loose pile of .22 caliber long rifle ammunition, a metal cookie tin containing drug paraphernalia that tested positive for methamphetamine, an EBT card, a medical card with the name Steven Craig Miller, a metal safe, a magnifier lamp in a box bearing a LCA tag, and another box bearing a LCA tag. See id. at p. 5.
Detective Lammer asked Mr. Taylor to provide him with a list of all missing property and reported the stolen firearms to the National Crime Information Center database. Detective Lammer checked the local marketplace and pawn records but found no record of any firearm stolen from LCA. See id.
On September 8, 2020, Detective Lammer contacted Travis Schreurs at Midway Service - Vollan Oil for assistance identifying the vehicle tire tracks found south of LCA. Detective Lammer sent Mr. Schreurs pictures of the tire impressions, and Mr. Schreurs identified the tread pattern as matching a Toyo Open Country ATII tire in the 245-265 series. Mr. Schreurs also advised these tires could be found on 1990s to 2010s light trucks and SUVs and provided Detective Lammer a picture of the tires. The same day, Detective Lammer submitted information about the burglary and list of stolen guns to FUSION Center. Id.
Also on September 8, 2020, Brule County, South Dakota Sheriff's Deputy Scott Powers received information that a man was squatting on an abandoned farm property belonging to Kirk Surat. Deputy Powers met Mr. Surat at his abandoned farm property. Mr. Surat told Deputy Powers the man squatting on his property was Tayn Reis, the defendant in this case. Mr. Surat told Deputy Powers he made contact with Mr. Reis 10 days prior and told him to get off his property. Deputy Powers testified that Mr. Surat also told Mr. Reis to remove all his property from the abandoned farm. Mr. Surat thereafter set up trail cameras on the property's driveway; the cameras captured photographs of a dark-colored pickup entering and leaving the property. Deputy Powers testified Mr. Surat showed him the photographs on his cell phone.
Deputy Powers and Mr. Surat continued onto the abandoned farm property and came across two trailers parked outside. One of the trailers was a flatbed; the other was enclosed. Deputy Powers entered an outbuilding, where he saw another flatbed trailer. On the trailer inside the outbuilding was a disassembled pool table. Other items, including toilet bowls, power tools, hand tools, and ladders were on and around the trailers. Next to the outbuilding was a lean-to, which had a bed, power cords for a generator, a TV, and possibly a video gaming console connected to the TV. Deputy Powers testified that it looked like someone had been living there.
Mr. Surat told Deputy Powers the trailers were not his. There were no license plates on the trailers, but Deputy Powers located the VIN on each. He called the VINs in to dispatch and learned that each of the trailers had been reported stolen. Deputy Powers testified he learned the trailer with the disassembled pool table had been reported stolen in Lincoln County, South Dakota, and that it had a pool table and some other property on it when it was stolen. Deputy Powers testified that he called the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office and confirmed with that office that the trailer in question had been stolen with a pool table on it. Deputy Powers testified that he also called the McCook County Sheriff's Office and confirmed with that office that another one of the trailers had been stolen from McCook County.
Deputy Powers testified that he also saw a neon “OPEN” sign on a work bench in the outbuilding. Deputy Powers testified he had recently worked a case in Brule County where a neon “OPEN” sign had been stolen from a locked unit in a storage facility. Deputy Powers took a photo of the sign. Deputy Powers testified at the hearing that this burglary occurred in July 2020 and that the storage facility which had been burglarized was Central Storage in Chamberlain, South Dakota. Deputy Powers testified that four or five storage units had been broken into and the burglary victims had reported fishing equipment, construction equipment, floor tiling, a neon “OPEN” sign, a restaurant-style chip rack, and other items were stolen.
Mr. Surat informed Deputy Powers that he had not moved anything on this property for around five years. Deputy Powers testified that, before he took items out of the outbuilding, he asked Mr. Surat if it was his. Mr. Surat would tell him, See Docket No. 36 at p. 45.
Deputy Powers called Brule County Sheriff Darrell Miller to the Surat property. They arranged for a tow truck to take the trailers to a secure lot in Chamberlain, South Dakota. All the property Mr. Surat did not claim was transported to Chamberlain to be...
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