United States v. Alexander Gonzalez

This case turns on the legality of a government search of a government employee’s backpack as he left an Air Force base exchange.

Facts

Appellant Gonzalez worked at the McChord Air Force Base Exchange. As he left work, one day, a store detective asked him to let her look in his backpack. The government concedes in its brief that for purposes of this appeal her actions “are those of a government employee.” Mr. Gonzalez concedes in his brief that he understood “that employees were required to allow such searches,” because he had signed something when he started work so indicating. The store detective had no individualized suspicion that Mr. Gonzalez was stealing anything. This was a random backpack check.

The store detective found four packages of spark plugs in the backpack, worth $3.75 per package. She asked him if he had a receipt, and he told her he’d bought them elsewhere and did indeed have one. She told him she would hold the spark plugs until he came back with his receipt. He presented one that she ascertained did not show a legitimate purchase of the spark plugs.

Mr. Gonzalez pleaded guilty to larceny, reserving for appeal the district court’s denial of his motion to…