WASHINGTON (LN) — The Supreme Court on Monday grappled with whether a “geofence warrant” that directed Google to hand over location data for cellphone users near a 2019 bank robbery violated the Fourth Amendment, with justices appearing divided over how narrowly to rule on the digital privacy issue.
The case involves Okello Chatrie, a Virginia man convicted of robbing a federal credit union in the Richmond suburbs. After investigators stalled on the heist, which netted nearly $200,000, law enforcement served a geofence warrant on Google. The order required the tech company to provide location data for any cellphone users within 150 meters of the bank during a specific window.
Google supplied the data in three phases. First, it provided a list of 19 anonymous accounts linked to devices near the bank during the 30 minutes before and after the robbery. The government then narrowed the request to nine accounts present during a two-hour period. Finally, detectives obtained names and information for three accounts, one of which belonged to Chatrie.
Using that location data, police secured a search warrant for two residences linked to Chatrie. Officers found almost $100,000 of the stolen cash, a gun, and demand notes at the properties.
Chatrie pleaded guilty to bank robbery but reserved his right to appeal the district court’s denial of his motion to suppress the evidence. A federal judge agreed that the geofence warrant lacked the probable cause and specificity required by the Fourth Amendment but allowed the evidence under a good-faith exception. Chatrie was sentenced to nearly 12 years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release.
During two hours of oral arguments, some justices signaled a preference for a narrow ruling that would clarify the requirements for such warrants without resolving every thorny issue raised by digital surveillance.