Cooley v. State

In Cooley v. State, 2009 WL 2568552 (Alaska App. Aug. 19, 2009) (unpublished) there were also other indicators that the package might contain narcotics: it was sent from an individual to another individual, in a used box rather than a UPS shipping box, and the box was heavily taped, which was suspicious to the officer because it suggested an attempt to eliminate odors. It had also been mailed from a shipping and receiving company, a delivery method that allowed the shipper to remain anonymous. The officer noticed ramen noodles stuck to the tape under the package, which he found odd because that commodity was readily available in Juneau. The package was also sent second-day air from California, a "hub" location for drugs coming from Mexico, at a cost of $63.99. The officer testified that he had observed about 1200 parcels on the day in question, and that this was the only package he singled out for investigation. However, the "turning point" in the superior court's conclusion in Cooley that there was reasonable suspicion that the package contained illegal drugs was the evidence that the recipient was a fictitious person. The officer's search of two databases indicated that there was no record of the recipient in Juneau and that the name associated with the address on the package was not the recipient's name.