M.D.Fla.: Monitoring a package with beeper and GPS pre-Jones but only when it was briefly in a public place was reasonable

A UPS package from Mexico to Florida was inspected at the UPS de facto border checkpoint at its Louisville hub, and it was found to have cocaine. A controlled delivery was arranged for the Florida address with an anticipatory search warrant. The package was equipped with a beeper to alert to when it was opened and a GPS. First, the defendant’s name was nowhere on the package as shipper or recipient, so he lacked “standing.” Second, the package was lawfully opened under the border exception. Third, the monitoring of the packages with the beeper and GPS occurred while the vehicle was in a public place. Finally, the officers had probable cause to stop and search the car. United States v. Arrendondo, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 66919 (M.D. Fla. May 14, 2012):

The facts of this case are more closely aligned with Karo and United States v. Knotts, 460 U.S. 276 (1983) than with Jones. In Karo, the government came into physical contact with the container before it belonged to the defendant. “The transfer of the container with the unmonitored beeper inside did not convey any information and thus did not invade Karo’s privacy.” Jones, 132 S. Ct. at 952 (citing Karo, 468 U.S. at 712). Jones found that the conclusion was “perfectly consistent with the one we reach here. Karo accepted the container as it came to him, beeper and all, and was therefore not entitled to object to the beeper’s presence, even though it was used to monitor the container’s location.” Jones, 132 S. Ct. at 952. Unlike Jones, no law enforcement officer trespassed on defendant’s vehicle to install a tracking device. Indeed, law enforcement officers did nothing to place the package in the vehicle. The package was simply delivered to the mobile home according to the instructions given by defendant or a conspirator to UPS, and the conduct of the conspirators was allowed to take its natural course.

Karo did hold, however, that some monitoring of the tracking device required a warrant under the Fourth Amendment. The Court held that the monitoring of a beeper in a location not open to visual surveillance (there a residence) violated the Fourth Amendment rights of those who had a justifiable interest of privacy in the location. Karo, 468 U.S. at 714-18. Here, the beepers were monitored only while the Toyota was moving in public places subject to lawful visual surveillance. Therefore, the monitoring did not violate the Fourth Amendment.