FBI Didn't Need Warrant (for installation of GPS tracker device), Judge Says
FBI Didn't Need Warrant, Judge Says
ST. LOUIS (CN) - The FBI did not need a warrant to secretly install a GPS tracking device on a St. Louis City Treasurer's Office employee accused of not showing up for work, a federal judge ruled.
Fred Robinson, 69, is accused of stealing more than $250,000 of public money from the Paideia Academy charter school to start a day-care business, and of taking as much as $175,000 from his job in Treasurer Larry Williams' office, where he was allegedly a no-show.
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But U.S. Magistrate Judge David Noce disagreed, finding that appellate courts have found use of the tracking devices legal, even though the U.S. Supreme Court is still deciding the issue.
"The 8th Circuit held that the agents did not need a warrant prior to installing and using the GPS tracker device," Noce wrote. "The court explained, 'when police have reasonable suspicion that a particular vehicle is transporting drugs, a warrant is not required when, while the vehicle is parked in a public place, they install a non-invasive GPS tracking device on it for a reasonable period of time.' Because installation of the GPS tracker device was non-invasive and because the agents installed the device when the truck was parked in public, installation of the GPS tracker device was not a search."
http://www.courthousenews.com/2012/01/03/42708.htm
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