Judge allows evidence in Whites' state [poaching] case

Evidence obtained in a police search of a FedEx package that was leaking blood, and other evidence gathered through subsequent search warrants, will be allowed in the state’s wildlife violations case against Twisp residents William and Tom White.

Okanogan County District Court Judge Christopher Culp has denied the Whites’ motions to suppress evidence in the case, which charges the men with numerous violations of state wildlife and hunting laws.

In a decision issued Friday (Sept. 30) Culp rejected arguments by attorneys for the Whites that a search warrant was required to open and inspect a package that was delivered by Tom White’s wife, Erin, to FedEx in Omak for shipping on Dec. 23, 2008.

Culp concluded that mailing labels on FedEx packages state that FedEx officials or government agents have the right to inspect any packages. He also found that the presence of what appeared to be blood leaking from the package justified a search because it met a “community caretaking exception” to a situation that might otherwise require a search warrant.

“The sender of the package, who turned out to be Erin White, had no expectation of privacy when she left her parcel with FedEx, as the shipping company had the right to search parcels if they reasonably believed they contain contraband,” Culp wrote in his decision.

When a FedEx driver refused to pick up the package because liquid was leaking from it, the owner of the FedEx pickup and drop point at Walmart called Omak police. Officer Chris Busching arrived and after observing what appeared to be blood leaking from the package, Eckstrom and the officer opened the package.

Inside they found a plastic bag containing a bloody animal pelt, and called Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife officials. While waiting for WDFW officers to arrive, officer Bushing attempted to call the woman who left the package for shipping, but the number went to an automated recording for a “Wenatchee Test Line.” The officer also tried to call the addressee of the package, Ralph Brausen, but received no answer, according to court documents.

Troy McCormick of WDFW arrived and removed the contents and determined the pelt to be that of a gray wolf, a species protected by federal law, and contacted federal authorities to follow up.

Culp found that both Busching and McCormick were justified in searching the package “in a situation that reasonably appeared to involve the health and safety of the community.” Only by removing the wolf pelt from its package “could officers determine the source of blood and that community safety was not an issue.”

The judge also addressed questions about the validity of warrants subsequently obtained in federal and state courts to search phone records and property, including computers, belonging to Bill and Tom White. The judge found the warrants to be “sufficiently specific.”

Culp ruled in favor of the Whites in one instance, holding that the seizure of a loaded gun from Bill White was without sufficient evidence to determine that the seizure was “necessary for officer safety or not.” The gun was s removed when White arrived at his home while federal authorities were executing one of the search warrants, and was returned to White when the search was completed.

A status conference in the case is set for Oct. 10 in Okanogan County District Court.

State charges against both Bill and Tom White include hunting black bears out of season and illegal use of dogs to hunt black bears. Bill White is also charged with hunting black bears without a tag, hunting mule deer out of season, unlawfully transporting wildlife, providing false information and possessing a loaded firearm in a vehicle.

Bill, Tom and Erin White also face federal charges, including killing endangered gray wolves and conspiring to smuggle a wolf pelt out of the country.

In a federal grand jury indictment issued last June, Bill and Tom White are charged with killing two wolves, and possibly as many as five wolves. Erin White is charged with conspiracy in connection with attempting to smuggle a pelt from one of the wolves to Canada. A trial on the charges is scheduled for Jan. 30, 2012, in U.S. District Court in Spokane.

The Whites raise cattle and manage timber on a 600-acre ranch near Lookout Mountain, bordering forested land where a gray wolf pack was discovered in the summer of 2008.