How a 32-Man Assault Team Murdered Donald P. Scott at Trails End Ranch
REPORT
http://www.savetrailsend.org/report.shtml
OFFICE OF THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY COUNTY OF VENTURA STATE OF CALIFORNIA REPORT ON THE DEATH OF DONALD SCOTT
MICHAEL D. BRADBURY, District Attorney
INTRODUCTION
Donald P. Scott, age 61, owned and lived on a 200-acre property known as the Trails End Ranch, 35247 Mulholland Highway, in the Ventura County portion of Malibu, California. On October 2, 1992, while serving a search warrant at the Ranch, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputies Gary R. Spencer and John W. Cater, Jr. shot at Scott, resulting in his death. The shooting and the events leading up to it have raised a number of issues of concern to this office, other law enforcement agencies, and the public. This report summarizes our investigation and conclusions.
ARRANGING THE AERIAL SURVEILLANCE
While in South Lake Tahoe, Spencer and Los Angeles Sheriff's Sgt. Robert W. Mueller told DEA Special Agent Charles Stowell that an informant told them that approximately 3000 plants were being cultivated in a remote ranch in Malibu. They agreed to meet on September 22 to discuss the case further.
On September 22, 1992, Stowell met in Whittier with members of the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department, DEA and the U.S. Forest Service. No National Park Service employees or Ventura County officers were present.
Ranger Mike Alt and Special Agent Laurel Pistel, both of the U.S. Forest Service, were present at the meeting. Pistel states that she was invited by LASD, Sgt. Mueller, and that she believed the purpose of the meeting was to discuss a prior marijuana case that the Forest Service and Los Angeles Sheriff's Department had worked on together. While in attendance, she learned that the meeting involved the Trails End Ranch. She states that she did not hear asset forfeiture discussed at the meeting.
At the meeting, Spencer displayed the aerial photographs of the property taken by the California Air National Guard. However, Stowell stated that he could not identify cannabis plants because the photographs were in black and white.
In his report, Stowell states that the photographs show an illegal water system at the property. Forest Ranger Mike Aft stated that it appeared that the water might have come from the National Recreation Area and if so, could be illegal. He said that fact would allow the Forest Service to enter the land, but only if the National Park Service requested their assistance.
We obtained enlargements of the Air National Guard photographs. The only water system that can be seen is a pipe leading from the waterfall to a water tank, which supplies the water to the area where the buildings are located. The vegetation shown in the photographs is extremely dense, and no cultivated plants or footpaths can be identified.
DEA OVERFLIGHT
On September 23, 1992, LASD Deputy David Kitchings and Stowell flew over the ranch for approximately 10 minutes. Stowell reported that he did not see any marijuana until the third orbit over the ranch, when he saw approximately 50 marijuana plants, located approximately 75 yards southwest of an outbuilding on the property. He stated that the plants were at staggered elevations, and had light underneath them. The plants were approximately 25 yards north of and parallel to a dirt road in line with the main residence. He also described the location as being directly in line with the barn and out approximately 75 yards. Stowell checked the remainder of the property but did not locate a large cannabis cultivation site. He stated that if there were 3000 plants on the property, they were well hidden or were in an outbuilding. Kitchings then conducted aerobatics to lessen suspicion that they were conducting surveillance.
Stowell had a camera in the plane during the September flight but stated that he took no photographs. Stowell and other narcotics officers state that the usual procedure is to take photographs. A review of published cases involving over-flights indicates that photographs are frequently attached to the search warrant affidavit. Stowell stated that he should have taken photographs, and could not explain why he had failed to do so (however, in two reports, Stowell states that he was able to photograph the location in an October 5 flight over the property).
Stowell told us that he was flying at an altitude of at least 1000 feet and was not using binoculars because binoculars make him feel sick.
BORDER PATROL SEARCH
At the meeting of September 22, Forest Ranger Mike Alt suggested that a reconnaissance team go onto the property to look for the marijuana and stated that a team could be ready within 24 hours. After the aerial surveillance by Agent Stowell, Spencer asked Alt to put the team together.
On either September 22 or 23, Alt contacted the U.S. Border Patrol in Bakersfield and asked that the Border Patrol's C-RAT team assist the Forest Service with reconnaissance on the property. On the evening of September 24, 1992, Alt met at the Sheriff's Department with four members of the Border Patrol, along with Sergeant Boyce and Deputies Cater and Spencer. Border Patrol Agent Ed P. Dubbe was the commander of the mission, which the Border Patrol called 'Operation Malibu.' The Border Patrol agents were outfitted with climbing gear, cameras, weapons, and other equipment. They all then went in a Sheriff's van to the area of the ranch.
Spencer states that he is not sure exactly what area the Border Patrol searched. He states that at that point, he still believed the marijuana was growing on the ground and that to the best of his knowledge, the Border Patrol was only looking for marijuana on the ground and not in the trees. He states that they reported that they did not cover all of the property, but were confident they did not see any marijuana plants in the areas they covered. He also states that the Border Patrol reported that it was extremely unlikely that 3000 plants were present.
The Border Patrol has refused to allow us to interview its agents regarding this case. The written materials they have provided are contradictory and inconsistent as to times and are uncertain as to locations. As a result, we have been unable to determine the exact area that they searched.
PERSONNEL AND PREPARATION FOR SERVING WARRANT
At 7:00 a.m. on Friday, October 2, 1992, the officers who were to serve the search warrant gathered at the Los Angeles Sheriff's Malibu Station and were briefed. Present were 30 law enforcement officers (13 from the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department, 5 from the Los Angeles Police Department canine unit, 3 from the National Guard, 3 from the National Park Service, 2 from the U.S. Forest Service, 2 from the California Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement (BNE), and 2 from the Federal Drug Enforcement Administration). A list of persons present is attached to this report.
In addition, two researchers from Jet Propulsion Laboratories (JPL) in Pasadena were present. They state that they were there to conduct research. Los Angeles Sheriff's Sergeant Robert W. Mueller invited them to be present when the warrant was served. One of the researchers was a reserve officer for the Los Angeles Police Department, but was at the scene on behalf of JPL and not on behalf of the police department.
Two of the Los Angeles Sheriffs deputies were from the asset forfeiture unit. They state that it is customary that forfeiture personnel be notified several days before service of a search warrant and accompany narcotics officers serving the warrant to seize cash and documents which may lead to other assets. The forfeiture deputies in this case were notified a week or less before the warrant was served. As is customary, they did not begin any investigation before the warrant was served.
Spencer states that BNE agents were present as part of CAMP and were assigned to assist with locating and harvesting marijuana plants. Spencer states that the canine handlers were assigned to look for evidence of narcotics hidden in buildings or cars and that the LAPD canine unit was used because Sheriffs' canines were not available. An officer with the LAPD narcotics canine unit told us that they brought dogs trained to detect cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine, as well as dogs trained to detect marijuana.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Shooting Evaluation states that two unidentified Los Angeles County Probation Officers were also present. No personnel from Ventura County Sheriff's Department, which has the primary law enforcement authority and responsibility for the area, was present or notified that the warrant was going to be served.
The briefing was conducted by Spencer and Sgt. Boyce. According to National Park Service Rangers Bryan Sutton and Tim Simonds, they were told at the briefing that there were weapons in the house, but that no problems were anticipated. According to Simonds, they were told that the warrant was for the property rather than the people and there would not be a quick entry. Simonds also recalls that a deputy stated that the ranch would be seized if they found 14 or more plants. According to Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement Agent Greg McClung, someone said at the briefing that they would look into seizing the property if marijuana plants were found.
LEGAL ANALYSIS
District Attorney Bradbury raises the following questions at the conclusion of his report:
1.What is the legal authority of the Border Patrol to conduct searches for drugs?
2.Did the Border Patrol entry constitute a trespass?
3.Does the Fourth Amendment permit government agents to enter private property to search for drugs?
4.Did the Los Angeles County Sheriff obtain the warrant in order to obtain Scott's land?
5.Did the National Park Service orchestrate the investigation or killing in order to obtain the land?
6.How reliable are the observations of marijuana from the air?
7.What other evidence supports or refutes the presence of marijuana?
8.Did the warrant affidavit contain knowing or reckless false statements or material omissions?
9.Do the misstatements and omissions invalidate the warrant?
10.May the officers be prosecuted for perjury?
11.Why were so many officers and agencies present?
12.Was the presence of Ventura County deputies required?
13.May a peace officer use deadly force in serving a search warrant?
14.Does an invalid warrant make the shooting a crime?
UPDATE
http://www.savetrailsend.org/francisscott.shtml
The IRS is presently forcing the sale of Trails End Ranch to pay unconstitutional Death Taxes. If you would like to help save Trails End Ranch, please contribute to the Donald Scott Memorial Fund:
Donald Scott Memorial Fund
P.O. Box 6755 Malibu, CA 90264
Bank of America
Point Dume Branch
29171 Heather Cliff Road
Malibu, CA 90264
(310) 456-6296
Please check back for CD release information, in the meantime feel free to download samples of the songs below.
1.Constitutional Rights nhttp://www.savetrailsend.org/mp3/constitutional_rights.mp3
2.I'm Going to Stop You
http://www.savetrailsend.org/mp3/i'm_going_to_stop_you.mp3
3.Airborne Ranger
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4.The Death Tax Man
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5.Monkey Island
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6.Correctional Blues
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7.Eve of Destruction
http://www.savetrailsend.org/mp3/eve_of_destruction.mp3
8.Ventura Vacation
9.Jesus Drank Wine
10.Indian Dreams
Your letters of support mean a lot to the future of Trails End Ranch, you can email your thoughts to Frances Scott at: frances@savetrailsend.org
Thanks for your article, The Green Cancer, in WorldNetDaily. For more on the Mantle family you might try this page: http://www.moffatcountysheriff.com/gunsindinosaur.htm
There may be a response from Sec. Norton that hasn't been posted - the Sheriff's Office is in the process of moving to a new facility - but I'd guess that Buddy would share it with you. There are two issues in process:
1) Can the NPS abrogate the Bill of Rights?
2) Can the NPS assume authority over wildlife owned by the citizens of Colorado?
For years NPS, Interior, USFS, and BLM have been turning the screws, not only on the Mantles, but on the entire county. Many actions appear to be coordinated with their fellow travelers in the green movement. With a land area four times the size of Rhode Island and a population of about 14,000, we're spread pretty thin and have minimal clout. )'