Conrad

I. Factual and Procedural Background

During the course of a combined investigation by the Inter- nal Revenue Service (“IRS”) and the Fresno County Sheriff’s Department, Conrad became a suspect in an alleged illegal gambling operation at a Fresno bar and grill known as the Elbow Room. During the ten months of the investigation, investigating officers came to believe that Conrad had 5282 CONRAD v. UNITED STATES employed his knowledge of, and access to, state and local police information services to learn that an undercover inves- tigator, who was also an officer in a neighboring city police department, had infiltrated the Elbow Room gambling opera- tion. The investigators also came to believe that Conrad had “blown the cover” of their undercover man, rendering him useless, and the investigation compromised.

In due course, IRS Agent Linda Osuna, working with sher- iff’s deputies and an Assistant United States Attorney (“AUSA”), prepared a twenty-eight page affidavit and obtained from a federal magistrate judge search and arrest warrants. Conrad was among those arrested. The arrests were accomplished on a Wednesday afternoon. Federal magistrate judges at that time…