United States v. Gonzalez, 2025 WL 1007291 (8th Cir. 2025)
On a September morning in Moody County, South Dakota, a caller notified the sheriff’s office about “a distracted or a drunk driver,” driving northbound on I-29 near exit 108. The caller described the car as “a black, Volvo sedan of some kind,” adding that the car was weaving widely across the road. The dispatcher notified a state trooper, who started driving toward the area. Fifteen minutes later, a different caller notified local police of a northbound car on I-29 by mile marker 127 that was “all over the road.” The caller described the car as black, with blacked-out windows. It was weaving wildly, according to the caller. The local dispatcher broadcast an attempt-to-locate bulletin.
State Trooper Mitchell Lang spotted a black Volvo with California plates exiting the freeway and followed it to a gas station. The trooper believed the driver had seen him and that “taking the first exit available was suspicious.” The trooper followed the vehicle to a gas station. Shortly thereafter, Officer Seth Bonnema from the Brookings Police Department pulled in behind the black Volvo, which was parked at a gas pump. Two men were standing outside the Volvo.
Officer Bonnema approached and asked the driver, Jose Rolando Gonzalez, “Can I talk to you?” Gonzalez agreed, and the officer told Gonzalez and the passenger, Marquez Gonzalez, that he was “stopping them” was because “some anonymous person called out on the interstate that you’re all over the road.” Gonzalez replied, “Oh, I might have been, yeah, I’m tired,” and then stated, “I’ll get some rest.” The officer asked if he could check Gonzalez’s identification and he agreed. (Remember: Talk nice, think mean!)
As Jose Gonzalez was looking through his wallet, the officer asked where he was coming from. Gonzalez said he had driven from California, and he was “going to the Iowa State Fair.” This raised immediate suspicions in Officer Bonnema’s mind.
As anyone who has ever attended the amazing Iowa State Fair knows, the event is held in August. When I was a kid in West Des Moines, Iowa, I looked forward to the fair every year. Or, if you have ever watched the 1945 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical film, State Fair, you’d know all about the Iowa State Fair. (Watch for the appearance of veteran character actor Harry Morgan as a carnival barker!) But maybe that’s beside the point.
Officer Bonnema pointed out Iowa was “an hour and a half south” of South Dakota. He told Gonzalez that the fair was long past, and Gonzalez replied, “Are you serious?” Contrary to the driver’s statement, Marquez Gonzalez (the passenger) claimed they were going to Minnesota first, and then heading to the Iowa State Fair.
Knowing that particular freeway was a common route for drug trafficking, Officer Bonnema deployed his drug detection dog to walk around the Volvo. The dog gave an indication near the driver’s door. Marquez Gonzalez said there was probably some marijuana in the car. The officers searched the Volvo and found approximately 32 pounds of methamphetamine, cash, drug paraphernalia and several cell phones. Jose Gonzalez asked the trial court to suppress the evidence, arguing the officers lacked reasonable suspicion to “stop” his car and that they unlawfully extended the detention. The trial court refused to suppress the evidence and Gonzalez appealed.
The appellate court first considered whether the officers had reasonable suspicion for the stop. (Even though Jose and Marquez were already stopped at the gas pump, it was the functional equivalent of a traffic stop.) Both the trooper and the officer heard the radio broadcasts about a black car, likely a Volvo, driving erratically, from two consistent sources: “The consistent location of the car, taken together with the corroboration of the color and erratic driving, permitted a reasonable inference that the tips were about the same vehicle.” The contemporaneous nature of the two tips supported a finding of reliability of the information. Based on the location given in the respective tips, the time between the tips and spotting the black Volvo exiting the freeway, the court held the officers had reasonable suspicion Jose Gonzalez had been driving erratically for at least 20 miles.
Jose Gonzalez also claimed the officers unlawfully prolonged the stop beyond its initial purpose. The court held that the driver’s claim to be headed to Iowa when he was at least 90 minutes north of Iowa and headed in the wrong direction was “sufficiently suspicious for the officer to expand the scope of the stop beyond the traffic violation.” Furthermore, Gonzalez’s illogical itinerary and suspect reason for travel provided reasonable suspicion for the officers to ask additional questions and to confirm the date of the Iowa State Fair. The court held: “Taken together, the implausible and contradictory itineraries, Gonzalez’s admitted, erratic driving, and the officer’s experience with drug trafficking along I-29 gave the officer reasonable suspicion to further expand the scope of the stop” and to have his dog perform an exterior sniff of the car, which led to the discovery of the large quantity of contraband and other evidence.
A traffic stop by the numbers, with careful follow-up on the initial information, plus knowing a bit about the state fair, led to a prison term of just over 18 years for Jose Gonzalez. Perhaps he can check out a DVD of State Fair and enjoy learning about the incredible Iowa State Fair.
