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[DO NOT PUBLISH]
IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT
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No. 17-15258
Non-Argument Calendar
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D.C. Docket No. 3:17-cr-00069-RV-1
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff-Appellee,
versus
JOSHUA RAY FOUNTAIN,
Defendant-Appellant.
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Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Northern District of Florida
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(September 7, 2018)
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Before WILLIAM PRYOR, MARTIN and JILL PRYOR, Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM:
Joshua Ray Fountain, who entered a conditional plea of guilty to possessing
five grams of methamphetamine with the intent to distribute, appeals the denial of
his motion to suppress. 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1), (b)(1)(B)(viii). Fountain argues that
officers lacked reasonable suspicion or probable cause to stop his vehicle. We
affirm.
We apply a mixed standard of review to the denial of a motion to suppress.
We review legal rulings de novo and related findings of fact for clear error. United
States v. Lewis,
674 F.3d 1298, 1303 (11th Cir. 2012). We consider the evidence in
the light most favorable to the prevailing party.
Id.
Traffic stops are seizures under the Fourth Amendment. United States v.
Spoerke,
568 F.3d 1236, 1248 (11th Cir. 2009). A traffic stop is constitutional if it
is based on probable cause to believe that a traffic violation has occurred or is
justified by reasonable suspicion that the person is engaged in a criminal activity.
United States v. Harris,
526 F.3d 1334, 1337 (11th Cir. 2008). The existence of
probable cause or reasonable suspicion is viewed from the standpoint of an
objectively reasonable police officer. United States v. Chanthasouxat,
342 F.3d
1271, 1276 (11th Cir. 2003).
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Reasonable suspicion exists when an officer has a specific and objective
basis for suspecting a person of criminal activity, given the totality of the
circumstances.
Lewis, 674 F.3d at 1305. Reasonable suspicion may arise solely
from a tip from a third party, so long as it bears sufficient indicia of reliability.
Alabama v. White,
496 U.S. 325, 330 (1990). A tip has sufficient indicia of
reliability when it contains a range of details, including future actions of third
parties not easily predicted.
Id. at 332. Further, a tip from a known informant is
more reliable than a tip from an anonymous source and may alone be sufficient to
justify an investigatory stop. Adams v. Williams,
407 U.S. 143, 146-47 (1972).
That an informant has provided police with reliable tips in the past also increases
the informant’s reliability. See United States v. Kent,
691 F.2d 1376, 1379 (11th
Cir. 1982). The reliability of the tip also is increased “if the officer observes facts
corroborating even the innocent details of the tip.” United States v. Aldridge,
719
F.2d 368, 371 (11th Cir. 1983).
The officers had reasonable suspicion to stop Fountain’s vehicle based on a
reliable informant’s tip that Fountain was transporting methamphetamine. The
informant had previously implicated persons known to traffic in drugs, assisted in
two controlled purchases of drugs, and provided information that resulted in the
seizure of 30 ounces of methamphetamine. See
Kent, 691 F.2d at 1379. In addition,
the informant had aided the Drug Enforcement Agency in arresting six persons
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who possessed illegal substances. The informant described Fountain’s truck,
provided his license plate number, and predicted the time of his departure, his
route, and his final destination. See
White, 496 U.S. at 330, 332. The officers
corroborated the details of the informant’s tip by observing Fountain drive a truck
that matched the informant’s description, by watching Fountain meet the informant
at a prearranged location, by following them along the route that the informant
predicted, and by observing Fountain drive to the final location that the informant
identified. See
Aldridge, 719 F.2d at 371. Although the informant was Fountain’s
former girlfriend and had criminal charges pending against her, she had an
incentive to provide accurate information to obtain a sentence reduction in
exchange for assisting in Fountain’s arrest. See
id. Under the totality of the
circumstances, the informant’s tip was sufficiently reliable to provide reasonable
suspicion for the officers to stop Fountain’s truck. See
Lewis, 674 F.3d at 1304.
The officers also had probable cause to stop Fountain’s vehicle. The officers
observed Fountain commit at least two traffic violations when he swerved rapidly
and then crossed over the fog line and a solid double yellow line. See Fla. Stat.
§§ 316.089(1), 316.089(4), 316.0875(2); see also Lomax v. State,
148 So. 3d 119,
121 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 2014) (crossing double-yellow lines is a traffic violation).
Because an “officer’s motive in making the traffic stop does not invalidate what is
otherwise objectively justifiable behavior under the Fourth Amendment,” Harris,
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526 F.3d at 1337 (quoting United States v. Simmons,
172 F.3d 775, 778 (11th
Cir.1999)), it matters not that the traffic violation was a pretext for the stop
because officers saw Fountain violate at least two traffic laws.
We AFFIRM Fountain’s conviction.
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