W.D.N.C.: No IAC for not challenging facially sufficient Costa Rican SW issued at US request

The government issued letters rogatory to Costa Rica for investigation of a sweepstakes fraud calling the United States from there. Based on the request, the Costa Rican judiciary referred the matter to their department of justice which obtained search warrants. The product of the search warrants were sent to the United States and defendant was indicted here for fraud. Defense counsel wasn’t ineffective for not challenging the process in Costa Rica which apparently was all authorized by Costa Rican law. A Costa Rican law enforcement officer came to trial to admit the evidence. Pileggi v. United States, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 142087 (W.D. N.C. Sept. 1, 2017):

Petitioner’s arguments that the search of the Tico Racer location somehow exceeded the scope of the permissible search, and that a thumb drive was improperly seized, are refuted by the record. Inspector Gonzalez testified that he submitted Letters Rogatory to the Costa Rican government requesting intelligence information, surveillance, search warrants, bank records, and business documents regarding several individuals including Petitioner. (Id., Doc. No. 402 at 33). The Costa Rican judiciary approved the Letters Rogatory and assigned the matter to the fraud section of their Department of Justice. (Id., Doc. No. 402 at 35-36). Costa Rican law enforcement executed a search pursuant to the Letters Rogatory on sixteen different sites on May 16, 2006, including Petitioner’s Tico Racer business, and a call center at Rohmoser. (Id., Doc. No. 402 at 41-42). Inspector Gonzalez further testified that items including thumb drives were seized from the various sites on May 16, 2016, including a black and red thumb drive seized from around Petitioner’s at Tico Racer, (Id., Doc. No. 402 at 46, 58-59), and another thumb drive from the call center at Rohmoser, (Id., Doc. No. 402 at 83-84). Inspector Gonzalez’s testimony established that the Tico Racer search was authorized by, and that the thumb drives were properly seized pursuant to, Letters Rogatory that were approved and executed by the Costa Rican Government. Petitioner’s present contentions to the contrary are refuted by the record, are wholly unsupported by any evidence, and are rejected.