Opinions of the United
2009 Decisions States Court of Appeals
for the Third Circuit
1-15-2009
USA v. Rosario
Precedential or Non-Precedential: Non-Precedential
Docket No. 07-4814
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NOT PRECEDENTIAL
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT
No. 07-4814
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
v.
CARLOS ROSARIO,
Appellant
On Appeal from the United States District Court
for the District of New Jersey
(D.C. No. 05-437)
District Court Judge: Honorable Robert B. Kugler
Submitted Pursuant to Third Circuit L.A.R. 34.1(a)
January 6, 2009
Before: FUENTES and FISHER, Circuit Judges, and PADOVA,*
District Judge
(Filed: January 15, 2009)
OPINION OF THE COURT
____________
*The Honorable John R. Padova, Senior District Judge for the Eastern District of
Pennsylvania, sitting by designation.
PADOVA, Senior District Judge.
Carlos Rosario appeals from his conviction on one count of possession of a firearm
by a convicted felon, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1). Following the denial of his pre-
trial motion to suppress the firearm, Rosario entered a conditional guilty plea preserving the
suppression issue. He is currently serving a sentence of 33 months imprisonment. We have
jurisdiction over his appeal pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291. We affirm the conviction.
I.
In Spring 2005, the Drug Enforcement Administration Mobile Enforcement Team
(“DEA”) was deployed to Camden, New Jersey to focus law enforcement efforts on mid-
level narcotics dealers in the area. Information led DEA agents to investigate Carlos Rosario.
During the course of the investigation, the DEA learned of an outstanding arrest warrant for
Rosario issued by the Camden municipal court. The warrant was in the name of “Carlos
Santana,” one of Rosario’s confirmed aliases.* The DEA, in conjunction with the New
Jersey State Police (“NJSP”), arranged for two NJSP Troopers, Reitz and Crain, to perform
a motor vehicle stop on Rosario’s car in order to plant a tracking device in the car as an
investigative tool.
Prior to arranging the directed stop, the DEA knew that the “Santana” warrant
contained the unique State Bureau of Investigation (“SBI”) number assigned to Rosario;
Rosario’s criminal history records indicated that he used the alias “Carlos Santana;” the date
*
The “Santana” warrant was issued in 1996. Rosario had been arrested in Camden
County in 2000, and was not connected to the Santana warrant prior to the DEA
investigation.
of birth listed for Santana in the Santana criminal history record was only one digit different
than that listed for Rosario; and the address listed for Santana in his criminal history record
was the same address listed for Rosario in his criminal history record.**
The directed stop occurred on the night of April 8, 2005. Rosario, who was under
continuous DEA surveillance, was seen by agents as he left a bar in Philadelphia. The
agents radioed a description of Rosario’s vehicle to the NJSP Troopers, who spotted the
black BMW 7 series sedan exiting the Ben Franklin Bridge. The Troopers initiated the
vehicle stop based upon their knowledge of the active warrant.*** Reitz first became aware
of the existence of the warrant from the information he received from a NJSP detective
working with the DEA. That information indicated that the warrant was in the name of
Carlos Santana and that Rosario used that name as an alias. In addition, Reitz saw the actual
warrant prior to the stop. The warrant, however, did not in any way refer to the name Carlos
Rosario, nor did it contain a description of the race, gender, eye color, hair color, weight or
height of the individual named in the warrant. Reitz testified in response to questions from
the District Court that he was additionally acting on good faith reliance that the information
he received about Rosario/Santana from the NJSP detective and the DEA agents was good
information.
**
While the actual warrant contained a different address, the vehicle documents Rosario
produced on the night of his arrest listed the same address contained in the Rosario and Santana
criminal history records.
***
Trooper Reitz testified that he had an additional reason for stopping the vehicle,
namely that he observed the driver speeding. According to Reitz, he used radar to determine
Rosario’s speed, but could not remember how fast he had clocked the vehicle and his written
report does not record that a radar device was employed.
Because the purpose of the directed stop was to plant the tracking device, Trooper
Reitz testified that the authorities did not wish to disclose the existence of the outstanding
warrant. Reitz admitted that, prior to initiating the stop, it was his intention to place Rosario
under physical arrest for “something,” in order to take him out of the car and plant the
tracking device. However, he knew that a mere speeding violation was insufficient cause
to remove Rosario from the vehicle. Because Rosario passed a field sobriety test, the only
probable cause Reitz had to effectuate the arrest was the outstanding warrant, and he arrested
Rosario on that ground. A subsequent search of Rosario led to the discovery of a firearm
in his waistband.
Reitz wrote a report of the arrest. He admitted that he purposefully included incorrect
information in the report and omitted other information in order to hide the fact that the
arrest was made in order to plant the tracking device. Specifically, the report does not
mention that Reitz was aware of the warrant prior to stopping Rosario. Reitz wrote in the
report that he conducted a computer check on Rosario from his vehicle, discovered the
outstanding warrant, and arrested Rosario on that basis, when Reitz in fact knew of the
warrant before initiating the stop. Reitz admitted that he intentionally wrote the report in
this manner after discussing the matter with the DEA agents because they did not want
Rosario or his attorney to know that the authorities were targeting Rosario, in order to
protect the confidentiality of the ongoing investigation. Reitz testified that he believed it
was permissible to misrepresent facts in a police report for this purpose.
In deciding Rosario’s motion to suppress the firearm, the District Court held that
Rosario’s arrest was lawful because the DEA agents had probable cause to arrest Rosario
and the arresting Troopers acted on the basis of the request made of them by the detective
that was working with the DEA. The District Court noted that Rosario had not contested
the validity of the “Santana” arrest warrant; rather he contended in his suppression motion
that the warrant only authorized the arrest of “Santana” and law enforcement improperly
connected him with the Santana alias by relying on statements made by the NJSP detective
that were not grounded in probable cause. The District Court rejected this argument, finding
as fact that the Government had,
successfully established that Rosario and Santana are the same person. The
DEA examined Rosario’s official criminal history and revealed that his only
recorded alias was “Carlos Santana.” Further the DEA coordinated with a
State Police detective and matched the SBI numbers listed on the 1996
Santana warrant with the State Police’s SBI number for Carlos Rosario.
Based on the record, the DEA possessed the requisite probable cause
to authorize the execution of the 1996 warrant. The detective working with
the DEA communicated with the troopers and informed them that criminal
history checks linked the Rosario and Santana names for purposes of the
warrant. Further, the officers contacted the State Police barracks from the
police vehicle and confirmed the existence of the warrant before executing it.
Finally, after making the arrest and seizing the handgun, the troopers
confirmed that Rosario was in fact the person identified on the warrant by
matching Rosario’s State Police SBI number and the SBI number listed on the
warrant. Based on these facts, the arrest of Rosario and the subsequent search
and seizure of the handgun were not unconstitutional.
II.
In reviewing a suppression order, “we exercise plenary review over the District
Court’s legal conclusions, and we review the underlying factual findings for clear error.”
United States v. Laville, 480 F.3d 187, 190-91 (3d Cir. 2007) (citing United States v.
Delfin-Colina, 464 F.3d 392, 395-96 (3d Cir. 2006), and United States v. Veal, 453 F.3d
164, 167 (3d Cir. 2006)). We may affirm on any ground supported by the record. Id. (citing
United States v. Agnew, 407 F.3d 193, 196 (3d Cir. 2005)).
III.
Rosario argues that the District Court erred in denying the suppression motion
because the Trooper had no probable cause to: 1) stop Rosario’s vehicle for the ruse traffic
infraction; and 2) connect Rosario to the Santana warrant. We disagree. Based upon the
facts found by the District Court, the Government established probable cause to stop the
vehicle to execute the Santana arrest warrant. Thus, any alleged defect in the traffic stop and
efforts by law enforcement to keep the drug investigation confidential is immaterial.
To determine whether the police have probable cause to believe a particular suspect
is the person named in a warrant, “we apply a common sense approach and consider the facts
and circumstances within the knowledge of the law enforcement agents, when viewed in the
totality.” Veal, 453 F.3d at 167-68 (internal quotations omitted) (addressing issue of
whether police had probable cause to enter residence/believe suspect was in the residence);
see also United States v. Glover, 725 F.2d 120, 122 (D.C. Cir. 1984) (holding that “the arrest
of a person who is mistakenly thought to be someone else is valid if the arresting officer (a)
has probable cause to arrest the person sought, and (b) reasonably believed the person
arrested was the person sought” (citing Hill v. California, 401 U.S. 797, 802 (1971))).
The Government established that, at the time of the directed stop, Reitz had probable
cause to believe that a valid arrest warrant existed for Santana, Rosario and Santana were
the same person, and Rosario was the person in the vehicle. This alone was sufficient to
establish probable cause to support the directed stop of Rosario’s vehicle. As the stop of the
vehicle and subsequent arrest were supported by probable cause, the weapon found during
the search of Rosario’s person incident to the lawful arrest was correctly deemed admissible.
Because the “Santana” warrant gave Trooper Reitz probable cause to stop the vehicle, even
if no traffic offense had occurred, Rosario’s argument that the ruse traffic stop of his vehicle
was unsupported by probable cause, and his reliance on the falsities in the police report, are
meritless.
IV.
For the foregoing reasons, we will affirm the District Court’s Order of Judgment and
Conviction.