People v. Whigham CA1/4

I. BACKGROUND

A. Statement of Facts On October 12, 2012, at about 6:30 p.m., Contra Costa Sheriff Deputy Travis Wrangham was conducting surveillance at a Shell gas station in Bay Point that was a known location for drug activity. Wrangham was dressed in plain clothes and conducted surveillance from a parked, unmarked minivan with blacked out windows. A Mitsubishi sedan was parked two stalls away from him. A light blue Ford pickup truck driven by defendant arrived and parked in the space between Wrangham’s van and the Mitsubishi. The driver of the Mitsubishi, later identified as Mr. Gross, got out of his car and walked up to defendant’s truck. Gross and defendant had a quick conversation. Gross reached into the cab of the truck with money in his hand. A few seconds later, Gross reached into the truck a second time. When Gross removed his hand from the truck it was in a closed fist, as if he was holding something. Wrangham believed that he had just witnessed a drug transaction. Gross returned to his car and promptly left the gas station. Defendant also left the gas station. As Wrangham was undercover, he did not contact either defendant or Gross. Wrangham saw defendant’s pickup…