Alleged Drug Trafficker Wins Bid to Suppress Cellphone Evidence

A Philadelphia woman caught with massive quantities of illicit drugs and a stolen truck won her bid to suppress evidence obtained from two cellphones seized at the time of her arrest.

A warrant to search the contents of a cellphone requires probable cause based on offense-specific facts connecting the crimes with use of the cellphone and its contents. Here, there were no objective facts linking the seized cell phones to the offense, Judge Gail A. Weilheimer said for the US District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

The government claimed Griselle LaCosta-Franco was found with large quantities of drugs ...