United States v. Nicolai Caymen, AKA Andre Patrick Payne

We consider a motion to suppress evidence found on the hard drive of a computer that had been obtained by fraud.

Facts

We take the facts from the hearing on the motion to suppress and the district court’s decision on the motion.

Caymen worked as a desk clerk at a hotel in Ketchikan, one of Alaska’s larger cities, but as cities go, a small one, with a population of about 7,500 people. A local business supply store called the police after a woman complained that the store had charged her credit card $1,654 for a computer that she had not purchased. The store discovered that Caymen had placed a telephone order for the computer using a credit card, and when Caymen picked it up the shop clerk had not asked him for any identification. Because the local business supply stores share information about customers who defraud them, the store clerk was able to tell the police that Caymen had tried to buy a computer from one of their competitors, also with credit card trickery. At the second store, Caymen had first tried to use a credit card that was rejected, then he used a different card that worked, but he later cancelled the order, saying that he had already obtained the computer he…