NY3: Admin. search for counterfeit cigarette tax stamps was factually justified and reasonable

“Inasmuch as defendant was ‘operating a retail outlet where cigarettes were sold openly and notoriously[, the investigators were authorized] … to enter the premises and inspect the cigarettes for possible fraudulent stamping.’” They can’t forcibly enter, but they can insist on the outlet operator opening doors and cabinets with justification. Here they had it from a CI’s report that brought them to the store to see if defendant was using counterfeit cigarette tax stamps. “Vona’s observations, coupled with defendant’s nervous demeanor, misrepresentations and suspicious behavior, provided the investigators with a reasonable basis upon which to demand access to this storage area — where, among other things, a quantity of untaxed cigarettes were discovered. Although the counterfeit tax stamps themselves were located in a half bathroom off of this storage area, the half bathroom was immediately adjacent to the back room; additionally, Stah testified that the half bathroom was — based upon her observations — ‘probably not being used’ for its intended purpose and, further, that the counterfeit tax stamps were recovered from the ‘same general area’ as, among other things, the untaxed cigarettes. Under these circumstances, we do not find that the investigators exceeded the permissible scope of their regulatory search.” People v. Reynoso-Fabian, 2015 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 8959, 2015 NY Slip Op 08868 (3d Dept. Dec. 3, 2015).