CA11: Financial fraud SW permits search of def’s wallet on his person

In a search warrant for financial fraud of defendant’s house, finding defendant there allowed a search of his wallet under the warrant. United States v. Shabazz, 2018 U.S. App. LEXIS 9774 (11th Cir. Apr. 18, 2018):

Shabazz argues that the search of his wallet was outside the scope of the warrant, but we disagree. The search warrant permitted the agents to seize “Green Dot [d]ebit [c]ards, other [automated-teller-machine] cards, [g]overnment identification cards, computers, routers, hard drives, papers, receipts, portable electronic storage devices, [c]urrency, and other items commonly associated with criminal activity involving fraud.” And “[a] lawful search of fixed premises generally extends to the entire area in which the object of the search may be found and is not limited by the possibility that separate acts of entry or opening may be required to complete the search.” United States v. Ross, 456 U.S. 798, 820-21, 102 S. Ct. 2157, 72 L. Ed. 2d 572 (1982). Because the pockets of a pair of pants are a reasonable place to look for debit cards and some of the other kinds of evidence identified in the search warrant, the agents did not exceed the scope of the search warrant when they seized the contents of Shabazz’s wallet. And the search of the pants was not a frisk to protect an officer’s safety, which would “restrain[] the freedom of the detainee to walk away or otherwise remove himself from the situation.” Moore v. Pederson, 806 F.3d 1036, 1044 (11th Cir. 2015). Shabazz was not wearing the pants when the agent seized the wallet, so he was physically able to walk away at any time. The district court did not err.