United States v. Jozsef Tibor Wiga, United States of America v. Jozsef Tibor Wiga

Jozsef Tibor Wiga was convicted in district court of two counts of violating 18 U.S.C. § 922 (g)(1) (felon transporting firearm in interstate commerce), and two counts of violating 18 U.S.C. Ápp. § 1202(a)(1) (ex-felon in possession of firearm). The district court vacated Wiga’s convictions on three of the four counts, and sentenced Wiga to serve two years in prison on a single count of possession under § 1202(a)(1). In No. 80-1635, the government appeals the vacating of the three additional counts. In No. 80-1724, Wiga appeals his conviction, claiming the denial of his motion to suppress the two firearms which formed the basis of his conviction was erroneous. We affirm the conviction and the denial of the motion to suppress in No. 80-1724. We reverse the district court’s dismissal of Count II for a separate violation of 18 U.S.C. Appendix § 1202(a)(1) in No. 80-1635.

I. BACKGROUND

On December 21, 1978, Special Agents Charles Barry and Kenneth T’Kindt of the FBI in Nevada received word from the FBI office in Spokane, Washington, that Wiga, a federal parole violator, would be traveling to Las Vegas in the company of one Alice Moody, and that Moody was expected to pick up some…