Janet M. Carlini v. State Florida

We review the consolidated appeals of Charles Rogers and Shelly Tam who pled nolo contendere to charges of trafficking (Rogers) and possession (Tam) after the trial court denied their motions for suppression of the contraband found in Rogers van and Tams purse. Both appellants claim the officers who stopped Rogers van had no founded suspicion to do so based solely on a tip received from an apparently untested informant. Tam further claims that the police had no probable cause to proceed with the search of her purse after the canine unit discovered contraband in the van itself. We conclude that the police did have a founded suspicion to stop the van; that this founded suspicion ripened into probable cause to search the van when the narcotic-sniffing dog alerted to the presence of cocaine; and that the discovery of the contraband in the van gave the officers probable cause to arrest the driver, Rogers. We find no basis for the arrest of Tam or the search of her purse. We therefore affirm as to Rogers and reverse as to Tam.