People v. Valenzuela CA3

FACTS

The challenged wiretap arose from an investigation into the South Side Tracy Norteños, a criminal street gang under the umbrella of the Nuestra Familia prison gang. That investigation, known as Operation Gateway, began in 2010 and continued into 2011. During the investigation, 14 cell phone lines were wiretapped, three of which belonged to John Pantoja, the leader of the South Side Tracy Norteños and a codefendant in the underlying case. His lines were designated as lines 1, 3, and 9. In April 2011, law enforcement officers intercepted a number of calls and text messages on line 9 between Pantoja and defendant. Based upon the content of these calls, law enforcement believed Pantoja was going to receive methamphetamine from defendant, and that defendant was the source of methamphetamine for Pantoja. Officers began surveillance of Pantoja. On the night of April 30, 2011, he drove into an orchard, turned off his lights, and met with someone in a dark-colored SUV for a few moments. Then the driver of the SUV turned on its headlights and left the orchard. Next, the back-up lights of Pantoja’s vehicle turned on, and Pantoja backed the car out of the orchard. As Pantoja drove back…