ILLEGAL STOP PUTS DRUG CHARGES IN DOUBT

A Judge Throws Out Evidence a Detective Found in Two Arrests.

TAMPA - In May, a Hillsborough sheriff's detective found seven
freezer bags of marijuana, several bags of cocaine, drug
paraphernalia and $7,000 in the bed of [redacted]'s truck.

Prosecutors won't be able to use any of the evidence at trial.

Circuit Judge Debra Behnke has thrown it all out, saying Detective
Jason Himmel made an illegal stop.

"The official misconduct in this case was extreme," she said.

Without the evidence, attorneys for [redacted], expect the
Hillsborough State Attorney's Office will have little choice but to
drop the charges against two men with multiple prior arrests on their records.

"The state cannot move forward without the drug evidence," said
[redacted]'s attorney, John Trevena.

That decision won't be made until prosecutors receive a copy of
Behnke's Thursday order, Assistant State Attorney Pam Bondi said.

Himmel, an auto theft detective, had just finished his shift May 30
when he spotted [redacted]'s truck hauling three motorbikes on a
trailer on Falkenburg Road. The detective wondered if they were stolen.

When the truck entered a gated storage facility using an entry code,
Himmel followed.

Inside, Himmel blocked in the truck. The detective asked for
permission to inspect the motorbikes' ID numbers. [redacted], agreed.
Then Himmel thought he smelled marijuana. He searched [redacted],
found nothing and called for backup.

After other deputies arrived, Himmel spotted the drugs and money in the truck.

Behnke determined that [redacted] did not feel free to leave the
storage facility, nor did they voluntarily consent to a search of the
truck and trailer.

The detective, she said, did not have permission to enter the storage
facility, which was private property, and had no reason to believe
the bikes were stolen.

Because an "illegal search" followed, the judge said, the evidence
must be suppressed. Prosecutors could appeal the ruling.