- 5 - While one of the officers was detaining petitioner, other officers made a protective sweep of the house. In the course of the sweep, the officers saw evidence that marijuana was being cultivated. As a result, they secured from a local judicial officer by telephone a search warrant that empowered them to seize evidence of marijuana cultivation, documents showing who exercised dominion and control of the premises, and documents indicating sales or distribution of controlled substances. Among the items the arresting officers seized were receipts that showed petitioner had spent substantial amounts of cash buying auto parts. These receipts demonstrated that petitioner, whom they knew to be unemployed, nevertheless had plentiful cash resources. This corroborated other evidence that petitioner was making extensive marijuana sales for cash. In addition to the seized documents, the officers seized a large number of live marijuana plants and a motorcycle. They carried much of the evidence back to headquarters in a van which they had brought with them when they set out to make the arrest. On September 25, 1997, petitioner pled guilty to marijuana possession. Respondent obtained copies of documents the officers had seized when they arrested petitioner and ascertained that petitioner had not filed 1991 through 1995 Federal income taxPage: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Next
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