but nothing but nothing was going out of the coffee shop been parked here for about 6 months I stopped you because your the vehicle and your description um match the description of somebody OK involving the theft of something OK and the suspect looks a whole heck of a lot like you a coffee truck a stolen generator a city employee with a suspended license and a confession that was never intended to be one this case raises fundamental legal questions about investigative stops Miranda rights GPS surveillance and the limits of self help under property law at what point did law enforcement have enough to act and when did the suspect's own words become the strongest evidence against him and you said that the truck that the was a truck here parked yesterday yeah because he's been um serving they've been open for the tournament and nothing nothing was stolen out of the truck no but the truck wasn't attached to it okay but nothing was stolen out of the coffee truck it's been parked here for about 6 months happened between 5:40 yesterday and 11:00am today it's five forty PM yeah and it's a western house he's trying to find the serial number right now but it's the only thing that's been sold so far um what color was it blue I got a color I'll send you the pictures I'll send you the pictures everything I'm gonna try to print the plug cause it's plastic and it was removed so we'll see I figured this isn't this isn't your cup of tea but it's mine so I got it I mean I'll write the report but I mean I was yeah this I know you like doing this yeah yeah so I I dusted the plastic cord cause it's the oh thank you it's the only thing dustable okay I don't think I got anything good because I was just tied it off too whatever well it's okay I mean you're listen if your prints come back you're supposed to be there right yeah so no I don't think I got anything but it was worth a try this was the actual handle to the plug the plastic you know where the they probably had they could have worn gloves they probably did people who do this kind of stuff are smart correct they stopped the first Rodeo I'm sure yeah um anything else tampered with did they try to open anything no just the generator okay does Sarah have all the info for the generator yeah I just sent it to her and I'm gonna I'm digging for some more I gotta get it parked to the car show right now by White Tree Pier okay and then I'm gonna dig through everything else and send it to her oh look okay let me go grab him thanks no problem have a have a better day they saw him there no general so it's already gone at 7:53 at 7:53 okay I noticed like a Haitian walking through the parking lot when I was like getting there but he wasn't there when I left but whenever I go back there make coffee when he hasn't parked there I always notice Haitians walking yeah that's that's a common thoroughfare there walking to and from um did you notice the only thing I noticed when I was there did you notice by any chance if the generator was there when you were there so I can narrow down the time a little better no I told Sarah everything was off in there but she says it's always off anyways but I didn't notice whether the generator was there or not okay darn it okay all right I appreciate it thank you of course thank you all right bye bye 67 come on copy a 1050 it's gonna be on a white transit van it's a city van let me know when you're ready for the tag hey man how are you good morning good morning so I stopped you because your the vehicle and your description um match the description of somebody that I was looking for do you have your ID on you yeah okay alright I'll be right back okay yeah thank you I we spotted him and then I saw that it was a city truck and I was like but then I was looking at the picture of the guy that I had in the video and he's bald and he made me service his parks over here so it would make sense to why he was here um especially at 7:20 in the morning yesterday right um he's got a suspended driver's license but you said that um on that picture you can see that it's New York state right not 100% um well I'm gonna take it and he's gonna have to not work for the day in that vehicle at least is it a city employee so we gotta make a call yeah did you ask him about it yet no I ran it saw that it was suspended and then you pulled up yeah that doesn't say why it's been in definitely for failure to pay a traffic citation was he speeding or something no it's an investigative stop there's a an investigation that we're conducting so that's why he was stopped um are you his supervisor I'm his supervisor on the weekends on the weekends okay did you know that he doesn't have a valid driver's license no we didn't know that it was suspended in February indefinitely oh shit yeah so we've got some issues here that we're gonna work out okay but that's that's one of the reasons why yeah do you need me to call my supervisor I'll call my supervisor um one thing at a time alright um I'm calling my supervisor since she's a city employee we'll go from there everything else seems to be very it's definitely the same model uh huh but what struck me as interesting when I pulled in I'm like oh this is where Community Services is parking yeah he's here at the same time uh huh as the theft occurred yesterday yeah this was a screenshot that was sent to me yesterday from um the principal of the high school because the cameras that were in here did not get a good shot of where the trailer was parked we have the cameras from over here that she was able to look in at and this is a screenshot she's coming in today to meet with me so that I can see the video okay Joseph your license is suspended yeah failure to pay a traffic citation it was suspended indefinitely in February what traffic ticket don't know it doesn't tell me no it doesn't tell me I had a problem with with with with um child support but I I took care I took care of that payment so I I had a problem with the the the child support but I took care of that OK maybe I don't cause my I thought this whole time I've been driving for them I've been working for the city for over a year and I've had a license yeah well February technically can't drive no so just I I can't have you drive so your coworker is gonna have to park the car you can't park it cause you can't drive okay sure alright so what I'll have you do is just step out of the car and then if you wanna come if you wanna hang out like over here while we finish doing what we gotta do okay alright I appreciate it sir thank you I can't give this back to you cause it's suspended but I'm gonna give this to you because this is a citation I wrote you for unknowingly operating a vehicle while your DL was suspended so we're gonna go thank you he's got his citation alright um that's pretty much it you have to obviously move the truck okay I wanted to call you over here because there was a different reason why I stopped no no no I already know he told me he just told me it's about what you when I let y'all upstairs yesterday hey I just told him the same thing I said you know what there's a lot of them vans is like our city vans uh huh when I looked at when I looked at it too I said damn that's look like one of our damn vans here's my question for you was he working yesterday yeah yeah OK what time did he start at 6 at 5 no 5:30 5:30 yeah OK so he was here yesterday at that time yeah potentially cleaning the bathrooms yeah cleaning the bathrooms he was over here with us cause that g that that uh if you can try to find any information about our truck the GPS it tells you everything oh you can go can you help me with that cause that's perfect they got a map for all our trucks though okay and how long they be there and everything okay so obviously you were briefed on the whole suspended driver's license okay were you briefed on the other reason why we're here okay I have to see that video so that I can personally identify him in order to arrest him for that but I was told that the trucks are GPS tracked yes could you pull that for me Joseph let's have a chat okay remember I told you there was an original reason why I stopped you okay so in order for me to talk to you about that I have to read you your Miranda warnings okay so um we'll start we'll start from the beginning you were working yesterday right yes okay was it the overtime detail like today yes okay what time did you clock in oh I came in at 5:30 in the morning okay and where did you go to the baseball fields baseball fields over here to the beaches yesterday or did you come I think I did yes okay and then where did you go after that well usually the beaches are first at 7:00 and then I'm over here at 9:00 but since it's they ball fields were here so I did 5:30 with these guys okay then I think I opened up the beaches at 7 okay and then probably came back over here okay about what time were you over here I don't know maybe 7 maybe seven OK a little after 7 I'm not sure do you know that the trucks are GPS tracked yeah you do OK so there is an incident over here that we have on camera OK involving the theft of something OK and the suspect looks a whole heck of a lot like you and was driving a transit man being that you are who you are and I know who your daughter is and I know who your son in law is I wanna give you the opportunity to save them the embarrassment and for you to tell me what happened yesterday with the generator ma'am that I don't he just told me today there was a generator somebody stole it so that's the first I've heard of it okay these GPS systems are tracked and I have I have this on camera I'm not sure have what on camera okay the theft of the the generator okay so what I'm trying to say is we can do this the easy way or the hard way I already know the answers to these questions did you take the generator yesterday no you put yourself you literally put yourself here I can GPS track you here in that vehicle right at the time frame where the theft occurred on camera where a bald male takes the generator and carries it and puts it into a white transit van that's not me man I mean if you got it on camera you saw the camera right but that's what I'm saying like so what I'm trying to do is give you the opportunity to save your family the embarrassment of what's gonna happen because I'm gonna go get a warrant and that's what we'll have to do but if if you want to come clean and tell me what it was that you did yesterday then ma'am I came here and I did my job I mean okay so when I identify you on that camera and I get the judge to sign that warrant you're still gonna deny it yeah I got that no I haven't done anything okay don't insult my intelligence man I'm not trying to insult you at all OK I'm not trying to alright we'll go about it the hard way then OK the jail's full of innocent people right I didn't say I'm not saying anything and nobody lies to the police right I didn't say all I'm trying to say is that if it wasn't you it is one hell of a coincidence alright so we'll just leave it at that alright okay alright alright you're good to go okay alright I don't have my phone on me now okay my name is Austin Thornbru I work with Key West and I was told you have some information about a generator somebody called me this morning which you all already know who it is he found out it was my nephew's generator that he stole and he wanted me to see if I could talk to my nephew about not pressing charges or whatever you know he told me that he didn't know it was Louis Generator and he did take it that's what I know okay so did you never had eyes you never had actual like visual of the generator just word for mouth from him I you know what I did see it in his driveway cause I'm working right down the street I'm actually in Big Pine right now working at the funeral home in Big Pine okay but uh I did see a yes a generator yesterday I don't know which one it was there was a generator in the driveway yesterday but OK alright I really appreciate your time sir I'll give a call this afternoon when I get off work OK sounds good thank you sir alright buddy have a good night alright sir you come on out Joe hey Joe we are relaxed we've been calling you and what are you having yeah yeah I came out yeah come out just like that OK alright Joe this time we have a warrant for your arrest for grand for burglary and grand theft OK I'm sure you're pretty aware of what this is about right OK yes yes sir OK so few things that I want to talk to you about since you are in custody you're not free to leave I do have something that I do have to read to you okay with that in mind you wish to speak to me I'm sorry no okay I'm gonna make a broad statement and it's gonna be very simple if you would like to give up the location of the generator that's cool that would probably be very beneficial for you because if not we have a search warrant for the house we'll call on SWAT and well you don't have to go nuts somebody else took that yeah OK so right now I'm making an understanding that you're making a statement from my statement that you would like to like to discuss that is that correct yeah I don't want you breaking up my dog I had the guy that took it yes but I don't have his no I don't know his name or where his house and all that okay so how did you get a hold of this person my phone your phone yeah where is your phone inside okay well I'm not going inside your house hey Renee my roommate do it I'm fine with that my phone's on his brother he's telling me to ask him something to put it on right you can talk and walk your voice travels okay so Tony owns the generator okay he sells weed he never gave me my weed so he told me I could take the generator till he gave squared up with me that's how that went down so he set me up and said it looks like I stole the fucking thing so Tony yeah that's what he did so he works for the aqueduct his girl his wife works for you guys she's a dispatcher okay so that's how it went down but nobody knows that part of it so that's the absolute truth so that's how that went so here's the thing is as of right now I'm listening to you but I don't believe anybody and don't trust anyone unless I see it here with my own eyes so I'm we're working on that so I'm just saying if it is not recovered by yardman there is a gonna be a search warrant for that house we haven't decided yet they're giving him the opportunity to cough up the generator he's not going to and he's not going to he sold it to some dude yardman so he needs to uh they need to come out with this one Terry v Ohio 392 US 1 1,968 establishes the reasonable articulable suspicion standard four elements converged here matching physical description identical vehicle type confirmed presence within the theft window and verifiable GPS fleet data each element in isolation may be insufficient their convergence produces a suspicion level that withstands Fourth Amendment scrutiny The Fourth Amendment requires suspicion grounded in facts specific to the individual not group characteristics race standing alone cannot justify a stop or detention under any federal circuit an officer who acts primarily on racial observation absent additional articulable facts risks a constitutional violation and suppression of all downstream evidence United States Vets v Jones 565 US 400 2012 dressed GPS Tracking in Law Enforcement employees operating government vehicles retain a substantially diminished expectation of privacy as to vehicle location fleet management systems produce timestamped location data continuously in property crime investigations this data converts circumstantial inference into documentary proof Miranda v Arizona 384 US 436 1966 requires rights advisement before custodial interrogation burkimer v Mccarty 468 US 421,984 clarifies that a routine traffic stop does not automatically constitute custody administering Miranda proactively during ambiguous custody encounters is best practice officers who omit this step and later argue custody status risk losing the statements entirely upon clear invocation of the right to silence interrogation must cease immediately Berguis v Tompkins 560 US 370 2010 established that voluntary statements made after invocation without further officer questioning remain admissible courts draw a critical line between interrogation and disclosure of investigative facts an officer who presents evidence without posing questions occupies legally distinct territory whether a disclosure crosses into functional interrogation is determined under the totality of circumstances Florida Statue section 810 Tin 2 defines burglary as entering a structure or conveyance with intent to commit an offense therein the threshold question does removing an externally mounted generator constitute entry under the statue if no enclosed space was breached defense counsel will argue grand theft under Section 812 dot 14 rather than burglary both are third degree felonies but burglary carries additional enhancement exposure under Florida sentencing guidelines Florida Statute Section 812 dot 14 requires intent to deprive the lawful owner Florida law does not recognize self help repossession of third party property as a defense to theft stolen belief of entitlement does not negate criminal intent where the property belongs to an uninvolved third party under Florida statute section 90 803 subsection 18 statements by a party opponent are non hearsay and admissible as substantive evidence the suspect confirmed the act while disputing the motive the explanation became the confession 3 lessons for practitioners GPS records must be requested immediately in any investigation involving government or commercial fleet vehicles Miranda administered proactively in ambiguous custody encounters protects admissibility better than post hot custody arguments before a judge a suspect who invokes the right to silence and then speaks voluntarily hands investigators what silence would have denied them but several questions remain unresolved did the officer's post invocation disclosure of evidence constitute functional interrogation under Burgoyne v Tompkins does removing an externally attached generator meet the Entry Threshold for burglary under Florida Statute Section 810 2 and if the suspect's account of a third party directing the taking is accurate does that party bear independent criminal liability under Florida accomplice law these questions turn on evidence not yet tested in court and arguments not yet made before a judge the case is not over