Page 77 - 2019 A Police Officers Guide

Officers established surveillance and saw a white Avalanche pickup truck. They checked the
license plate of the truck and found it was registered to Arturo Sarli, who had a pending
municipal arrest warrant. When a marked police unit entered the parking lot, Sarli appeared
nervous and drove away. Other officers, including Officer Juan Torres, followed Sarli and
initiated a stop after witnessing a traffic violation. Sarli appeared shaky in the presence of the
officers.

Officer Torres asked if Sarli would consent to a search of the truck. Sarli agreed. Officer Torres
then waited until other officers were free to assist him, before again requesting and obtaining
consent to search. Before beginning the search, officers told Sarli that he was under arrest on the
outstanding warrant, handcuffed him, and placed him in the back of a police car.

Officer Torres and others then began the search. The initial search was unsuccessful. About 15
minutes after the stop, the first of two police dogs arrived to conduct a “sniff” of the truck.
Neither dog alerted. Within five minutes of the second dog beginning to sniff, Detectives
Contreras and Robert Tamez arrived at the scene. Soon thereafter, Detective Tamez looked
inside of a box of cat litter in the back of the truck and found several small bundles that were
later determined to contain methamphetamine. From beginning to end, the entire search lasted
roughly 51 minutes.

Upon discovery of the drugs, Sarli began to cry. He told the officers that he was scared of going
to prison. He also told them that his wife was innocent.
After he was advised of his rights, Sarli confessed that he drove to a Wal-Mart parking lot to
meet an unknown man who gave him the box of cat litter—and that he agreed to be paid for
transporting that box of cat litter to another unknown man he would meet at the restaurant.

Sarli was indicted for possession with intent to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine
under 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1) and 21 U.S.C. § (b)(1)(A). He moved to suppress the
methamphetamine and his statements to police as the products of an unlawful search. After a
suppression hearing, the magistrate judge recommended that the motion to suppress be denied.
The magistrate judge found that the officers had probable cause to search Sarli’s vehicle at the
time of the traffic stop, but that the probable cause had dissipated by the time of Detective
Tamez’s search. The magistrate judge nevertheless found that Sarli had validly consented to the
search that he had not limited the scope of his consent, and that Detective Tamez’s search of the
cat litter box was valid.

The district court agreed that the stop of Sarli’s vehicle was supported by reasonable suspicion,
that the outstanding warrant justified his arrest, and that the truck was subject to impoundment
under police policy. It also found that the officers initially had probable cause to search the truck,
but that the probable cause had dissipated by the time Detectives Contreras and Tamez arrived.
However, the district court agreed that Sarli validly consented to the search that Detective
Tamez’s search did not exceed the scope of his consent, and that Sarli had not objected to the
continued search or tried to revoke his consent.

A Peace Officer’s Guide to Texas Law 69 2019 Edition