MICHAEL F. URBANSKI, District Judge.
This matter comes before the court on defendant Deborah Ryba's motion to suppress. ECF No. 243. The government filed a response opposing the motion, ECF No. 259, and the court addressed the matter at a hearing held on February 27, 2017. For the reasons set forth below, the court
On February 10, 2015, Special Agent Robert Smith of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) filed an application for a search warrant, along with a supporting affidavit, seeking access to two of Ryba's email accounts—namely, deborahryba@gmail.com (the "Deborah account") and debyryba@gmail.com (the "Deby account").
In establishing probable cause to conduct the search, the affidavit relies on emails, financial records, cooperating witnesses, and other sources to show Ryba's involvement in drug and money laundering activity. Law enforcement obtained many of those sources in the course of a related investigation targeting Modern Day Prophet, an alleged business front engaging in international drug trafficking and money laundering. The affidavit focuses largely on Ryba and defendant Jason Bradley's ties to Modern Day Prophet. Ryba is identified as Bradley's girlfriend or spouse.
United States Magistrate Judge Joel Hoppe determined the facts set forth in the affidavit established sufficient probable cause and, on February 10, 2015, issued the search warrant. On July 5, 2016, a grand jury returned an indictment naming Ryba, Bradley, and five others as codefendants and coconspirators. A superseding indictment followed on July 19, 2016, naming the same defendants.
The superseding indictment charges Ryba with the following criminal violations: Count One — Drug Trafficking Conspiracy; Count Two — Conspiracy to Import a Controlled Substance; Count Three — Conspiracy to Commit Promotion Money Laundering; Count Four — Conspiracy to Commit International Money Laundering. ECF No. 23. The drug counts allege that Ryba and others were involved with the international sale of controlled substances and controlled substance analogues in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 846, 963. The money laundering counts allege that Ryba and others conspired to conduct financial transactions, which they knew involved the proceeds of unlawful drug activity, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1956(h). Some of the allegations in the superseding indictment rely on emails obtained during the search that Ryba challenges in the motion at bar.
Ryba asks the court to suppress evidence found in the Deborah and Deby email accounts and to exclude other evidence derived from those accounts, including emails on the account of sunnyerday@gmail.com. Ryba argues that the affidavit used to establish probable cause to obtain those emails is defective. Specifically, Ryba asserts that Agent Smith, in authoring the affidavit, violated her Fourth Amendment protections by including inaccurate statements and omitting material exculpatory information with the intent to make, or in reckless disregard of making, the affidavit misleading. While Ryba concedes that the search warrant and affidavit are facially valid, she argues that without the misstatements and omissions in the affidavit, the Magistrate Judge would not have found probable cause to justify the searches.
The court held a hearing on February 27, 2017 to address Ryba's motion to suppress and other pretrial motions. The bulk of the argument concerning the suppression motion focused on whether Ryba met the preliminary showing to even receive an evidentiary hearing on the matter. See
The Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution protects against unreasonable searches and seizures and mandates that "no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation." U.S. Const, amend. IV. A defendant who asserts a Fourth Amendment violation by alleging that a facially valid search warrant affidavit is defective must satisfy the standard set forth in
To prove the materiality prong under
In her motion to suppress, Ryba does not undermine the following facts set forth in the affidavit, which, standing alone, established probable cause to search Ryba's email accounts.
Schroeder. Aff. ¶ 7. Schroeder, along with Ryan Buchanan and David Scholz, had signature authority on bank accounts for a business named Modern Day Prophet, which cooperating witnesses identified as a business front for trafficking drugs and laundering money. Aff. ¶ 10.
Between September 2011 and September 2012, one of the Modern Day Prophet bank accounts received more than $940,000 in deposits. Aff. ¶ 11. In March and April 2012, Modern Day Prophet wired a total of $185,300 to Bradley's bank account at the China Construction Bank in Hong Kong. Aff. ¶ 12. Law enforcement believed Bradley was either Ryba's boyfriend or spouse. Aff. ¶¶ 14, 20. On March 30, 2012, an email from Ryba's Deborah account was sent to Schroeder with the subject line "Next shipments might arrive today. All are in cinci. All dhl." Aff. ¶ 22. The email contained shipping information of six packages, each originating in Hong Kong and destined for different addresses in Illinois and Ohio. Aff. ¶ 22. Some of the packages were addressed to Buchanan and Scholz, who, as mentioned, were involved with Modern Day Prophet. Aff. ¶ 22.
On April 2, 2012, another email from the Deborah account was sent to Schroeder and similarly included shipping information of three international packages bound for different addresses in the United States. Aff. ¶ 27.
Travel records reflected that Bradley and Ryba arrived in China on August 24, 2011 and returned to the United States from Hong Kong on June 8, 2012. Aff. ¶ 14. The affidavit indentified China as a known source country for synthetically manufactured drugs and Hong Kong as a conduit country for shipping such substances from China. Aff. ¶ 15. While abroad, Bradley received payments from Modern Day Prophet into a Bank of America account in the United States, some of which were made by cashier's checks that were annotated as "inventory" or "materials." Aff. ¶ 16. Between September 2011 and September 2012, Modern Day Prophet transferred more than $220,000 to Bradley's Bank of America account. Aff. ¶ 16. In total, Modern Day Prophet transferred more than $405,300 to Bradley around the time Bradley and Ryba were Asia in 2011 and 2012.
In February 2014, Ryba established an E* Trade investment profile that listed a home and email address. Aff. ¶ 19.
On November 17, 2014, Bradley and Ryba again travelled to Asia, this time with a final destination of Phuket, Thailand. Aff. ¶ 30. Law enforcement had recently intercepted a phone call between Schroeder and another coconspirator during which Schroeder said, "I can't get nothing . . . the next time I'd be able to even do anything is when my boy goes out there . . . that wouldn't even be til like end of November, [2014]." Aff. ¶ 29.
Given these facts, the Magistrate Judge concluded that probable cause existed to search both of Ryba's email accounts for evidence of drug trafficking and money laundering. As explained below, this conclusion was well-founded.
The totality of the circumstances test of
A "practical, common-sense" inquiry shows that Ryba's communications with Schroeder, and the many financial transactions surrounding their relationship, plainly supported probable cause to search Ryba's email accounts for evidence of drug and money laundering offenses.
The affidavit also supported probable cause to search for evidence of money laundering. The affidavit indicates that Modern Day Prophet was involved in money laundering activities when it paid Bradley, Ryba's partner, $185,300 between March and April 2012. Ryba sent the two emails to Schroeder regarding the international shipments within the same time period, on March 30 and April 2, 2012. The affidavit also notes that, based on Agent Smith's training and experience, "individuals involved with narcotics trafficking and/or money laundering utilize third parties, to include family members and friends, to conceal their illegitimate income and assets." Aff. ¶ 19. The payments from Modern Day Prophet to Ryba's partner, which occurred within weeks of Ryba sending emails about shipments addressed to members of Modern Day Prophet, showed to a fair probability Ryba's involvement in money laundering.
In short, the Magistrate Judge had a substantial basis on which to determine that Ryba's two emails to Schroeder concerning international shipments addressed to members of Modern Day Prophet—sent close in time to her partner receiving $185,300 from Modern Day Prophet—supported probable cause as to Ryba's involvement in drug and money laundering activity.
The Magistrate Judge also had a substantial basis for determining that evidence of those crimes was probably located in both the Deborah and Deby email accounts. As the Fourth Circuit has held, "the nexus between the place to be searched and the items to be seized may be established by the nature of the item and the normal inferences of where one would likely keep such evidence."
The search warrant sought information relating to the movement of illicit substances and associated funds. Concluding that this information would probably be found in Ryba's email accounts is the type of inference supported by
Although not direcdy stated, Ryba appears to suggest that the grounds for searching the Deby account are thinner than the grounds for searching the Deborah account. However, the court need not make such a distinction. In
The breadth of the evidence set forth in the affidavit strongly supports the Magistrate Judge's determination that probable cause existed in this case. Agent Smith did not rely solely on one questionable source in showing that Ryba's connections to drug trafficking and money laundering activity.
To successfully mount a
Ryba claims that the affidavit presents some facts that lend themselves to benign explanations. However, such explanations do not undermine a finding of probable cause. For example, the affidavit details two money transfers between Bradley and Ryba, which in part led Agent Smith to believe that Ryba was assisting Bradley with the concealment of drug proceeds. Aff. ¶ 19. Ryba argues that money transfers between husband and wife are not indicative of criminal activity. Ryba also takes issue with the affidavit's characterization of payroll withdrawals from the Modern Day Prophet bank account, totaling more than $375,000 issued to its principals between September 2011 and September 2012. She simply comments that "given the scope of the business, such a payroll is hardly a suspicious circumstance." ECF No. 243, ¶ 3. Additionally, Ryba argues that her email addresses, which openly include her name, do not comport with Agent Smith's assertion that narcotics traffickers often go to great lengths to conceal their identity. Ryba also claims that Schroeder's intercepted comment, that he anticipated his "boy" sending more drugs in late November 2014, was too vague for the Magistrate Judge to assume Schroeder was referencing Bradley or Ryba. According to Ryba, "there is no basis to associate this with Bradley and Ryba, except that [they were] to be on the same side of the International Date Line as a source of supply for cathinones." ECF No. 243, ¶ 18.
These benign explanations for the facts included in the affidavit in no way undermine the Magistrate Judge's probable cause determination. "[T]he confluence of factors independently susceptible of innocent explanation may provide the requisite basis for a finding of probable cause."
A number of Ryba's assertions in her motion to suppress do not point to a false statement or omission actually present in the affidavit, much less a material defect.
Ryba also erroneously claims that the affidavit falsely implies certain facts.
Additionally, Ryba asserts that the affidavit falsely implies she and Bradley lived in China from August 2011 until June 2012, when in fact they were living in Thailand. However, the affidavit plainly states that Bradley and Ryba lived in "Asia" during this time, having arrived in China and departed from Hong Kong. Aff. ¶ 14. The assertion that Bradley and Ryba were in Asia is not misleading, literally or by implication.
Ryba asserts that Agent Smith omitted certain information from the affidavit that, if included, would have resulted in the rejection of the search warrant application. This argument is unpersuasive as the alleged omissions were not material to the Magistrate Judge's finding of probable cause.
Ryba points to information in the affidavit indicating that her E* Trade investment profile listed her home address as that of a UPS store in Chicago, Illinois. Agent Smith also states he "is aware based on training and experience that individuals involved with narcotics trafficking and/or money laundering utilize third parties . . . to conceal their illegitimate income and assets." Aff. ¶ 19. Ryba argues that "[h]ad Special Agent Smith done any significant investigation . . . he would also have known that that address is in the same building as Bradley and Ryba's collections business, and that that was the same address Ryba used on her Illinois driver's license." ECF No. 243, ¶ 11. She also explains that she used this address as her home address, with the approval of the Illinois Department of Motor Vehicles, to avoid detection by an individual who has a history of stalking Ryba. While these facts provide an innocent alternative purpose for listing the UPS store as Ryba's home address, they do not eviscerate a finding of probable cause.
Ryba complains that paragraph 17 of the affidavit is misleading because it erroneously suggests that Ryba and Bradley were not involved in electronic cigarette sales. Ryba's complaint is immaterial. With or without information about electronic cigarettes, the affidavit details the drug dealing acts of Modern Day Prophet and its principals, notes that Bradley received large quantities of money, and Ryba's contemporary emails detailing shipping information. In short, Ryba and Bradley may have been engaged in the electronic cigarette trade, but that alternative explanation does not negate the probable cause that Ryba's email accounts were involved in drug dealing and money laundering established by: (1) Modern Day Prophet's drug dealing activities, (2) Bradley's receipt of large quantities of money from Modern Day Prophet, and (3) Ryba's contemporaneous emails of shipping details.
Ryba takes issue with the affidavit's failure to state that Ryba and Bradley conducted their electronic cigarette and debt collection businesses entirely lawfully. Ryba asserts that this information would have undermined Agent Smith's recitation that "illegal businesses do not maintain proper corporate registrations, do not file business licenses, do not maintain employee records, do not pay payroll taxes, etc." ECF No. 243, ¶ 15. Setting aside the fact that the affidavit includes no such recitation, the legitimate nature of Bradley and Ryba's ecigarette and debt collection businesses does not undermine the illegitimate nature of sending packages to and getting paid by drug traffickers. Therefore, the inclusion of this information would not advance Ryba's claim under
Ryba argues that the affidavit includes only a sliver of Bradley's financial records, omitting certain information that would have undermined a finding of probable cause. Ryba claims that Bradley did not receive any payments from Modern Day Prophet after July 2012, and that between July 2012 and February 2014 Bradley's Bank of America account balance dipped as low as $6,000. Bradley sold a car and received other legitimate business revenue that, according to Ryba, allowed his account balance to exceed $100,000 by the fall of 2013. This information regarding Bradley's Bank of America account balance between July 2012 and February 2014 is not present in the affidavit. However, the affidavit includes information about a $10,000 transfer from Bradley's Bank of America account to Ryba's E* Trade account on February 7, 2014. Agent Smith stated that this transfer supported his belief that Ryba was assisting Bradley "with the concealment of drug proceed money." Aff. 19. Ryba rebuts this conclusion, arguing that the complete financial records show any payments from Modern Day Prophet had depleted by fall of 2013, and therefore, the February 7, 2014 transfer could not have reflected the transfer of drug proceeds. Ryba argues that had Agent Smith included the entire scope of Bradley's financial records, the February 7, 2014 transfer from Bradley to Ryba would not have appeared suspicious. While this is one of Ryba's stronger arguments, it nevertheless falls short of establishing a
The core facts in the affidavit—be., Modern Day Prophet paying Bradley more than $185,000 within weeks of Ryba emailing Schroeder about international packages sent to members of Modern Day Prophet—provided sufficient probable cause to search Ryba's email accounts. Even if the February 7, 2014 transfer from Bradley to Ryba had been omitted from the affidavit, probable cause would have still existed to conduct the search. Therefore, information related to the February 7, 2014 transfer (suggesting the transfer did not reflect drug proceeds) was likewise immaterial to the finding of probable cause. In short, had Agent Smith included the entirety of Bradley's financial records in the affidavit, the Magistrate Judge would have still possessed a substantial basis on which to find probable cause for the search.
Having determined that Ryba's alleged defects do not materially alter the affidavit, the court must reject Ryba's claim that the affidavit misled the Magistrate Judge's determination of probable cause. Ryba's Fourth Amendment protections were not violated. Sufficient facts set forth in the affidavit, which Ryba failed to undermine, showed to a fair probability that Ryba was involved in drug trafficking and money laundering activity and that evidence of those crimes was probably located in both the Deborah and Deby email accounts.
For the reasons stated, the court
An appropriate Order will be entered.