CA9: Bringing police with criminal investigative motive to execute admin. warrant was unreasonable

An administrative inspection warrant is based on a programmatic probable cause standard, and not probable cause to believe that a crime occurred. Using the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office to help do a City of Lancaster administrative entry and search for municipal code violations was unreasonable. The LASD was there because they also suspected guns would be there. “Following Alexander v. City & County of San Francisco, 29 F.3d 1355 (9th Cir. 1994), abrogated on other grounds by County of Los Angeles v. Mendez, 137 S. Ct. 1539, 198 L. Ed. 2d 52 (2017), we hold that where, as here, law enforcement officers are asked to assist in the execution of an administrative warrant authorizing the inspection of a private residence, they violate the Fourth Amendment when their ‘primary purpose’ in executing the warrant is to gather evidence in support of a criminal investigation rather than to assist the inspectors. [¶] Accordingly, we affirm the district court’s order granting defendant Franz Grey’s motion to suppress.” United States v. Grey, 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 16788 (9th Cir. May 27, 2020).