United States v. Raymond Abbay Hackett

Hackett was convicted of conspiracy to import cocaine and importation of cocaine in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 952 and 968. We affirm.

I. STATEMENT OF FACTS

Customs agents discovered 58 pounds of cocaine hidden in the false bottom of a crate shipped from Santa Cruz, Bolivia, and addressed to I.K.I., Inc., San Francisco, a business owned and operated by Hackett. Agents of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) removed the cocaine and substituted a look-alike, non-narcotic substance. The agents also inserted an electronic transmitter emitting a slow impulse which could be monitored over a radio. The transmitter was designed so that this impulse would accelerate greatly when the drug compartment was reopened.

DEA agents followed Hackett from the San Francisco airport where he picked up the crate, over the Golden Gate Bridge into Tiburón where he picked up an accomplice, Turner, and on to Hackett’s residence a few blocks away where the crate was unloaded into his garage. The transmitter began emitting the fast signal indicating the drug compartment had been opened, and after a few seconds went dead. The agents closed in. After demanding entry and receiving no response, agents…