United States v. Alfredo L. Caceres

Appellee was charged with three counts of bribery of an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) agent [ 18 U.S.C. § 201 (b)]. Before trial he moved to suppress, inter alia, tape recordings of three face-to-face conversations with IRS agent Yee. The district court suppressed the recordings. We affirm in part and reverse in part.

The IRS began to investigate appellee’s individual and employment tax returns in March 1974. Yee testified at the suppression hearing that appellee offered a bribe in exchange for settlement of appellee’s tax dispute. No further contact occurred between appellee and the IRS until January 1975.

On January 27, 1975, Yee again met with appellee and reported to his superiors that the bribe offer had been renewed. On January 30, in a call initiated by the agent, appellee agreed to meet Yee on the following day. Yee suggested the time. The IRS determined that this face-to-face encounter should be electronically recorded. IRS procedures for obtaining authorization for such surveillance required that in all but “emergency situations” IRS agents obtain approval from named personnel in the Justice Department as well as certain designated officials in their own agency.…