DES MOINES – An Iowa Appeals Court this week upheld the conviction of a Charles City man for manufacturing methamphetamine.
A district court found 31-year-old Jason Cagley guilty on October 8, 2012, of manufacturing methamphetamine, a class C felony. On May 25, 2013, the court sentenced Cagley to a term of imprisonment not to exceed ten years.
Cagley appealed his conviction on the grounds of an illegal search. Cagley argued the district court erred in denying his motion to suppress evidence of manufacturing discovered in a gym bag he left in his mother’s car. The court found that the search was reasonable, based on the facts of the case:
In the late night of March 1 and early morning of March 2, 2011, a burglary occurred at the Cedar Valley Auction Company in Charles City. The burglar stole a large number of collectable coins. On March 2, Cagley brought a bag of old coins to First Security Bank. A teller agreed to buy the coins for seventy-five dollars. A bank representative then contacted the Charles City Police Department. Officer Todd Smith determined the coins Cagley brought to the bank were the same coins stolen from the auction company. The bank’s surveillance video showed Cagley bringing in the coins and showed the car transporting him to the bank.
On March 3, 2011, police obtained a search warrant for the items stolen in the burglary. The warrant allowed officers to search the person of Jason Cagley, a house owned by Karla Cagley, and two cars registered to her. The warrant did not identify Karla’s relationship to Jason.
Just as the magistrate was approving the search warrant, Officer David Diercks received a called from the bank advising him Cagley was back to sell more coins. Diercks rushed to the bank, stepped outside with Cagley, and read his Miranda rights. Another officer arrived with the warrant and presented it to Cagley, telling him the officers were going to search the car. Waiting inside the car were Cagley’s brother, who was in the driver’s seat, and Cagley’s girlfriend. Before the officers started searching, Cagley confessed the car contained a methamphetamine lab. The officers found containers of methamphetamine “sludge” inside a gym bag in the car.
CONVICTION UPHELD
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