Opinion
No. A-107.
November 5, 1957.
Appeal from the Circuit Court for Marion County, Wallace E. Sturgis, J.
J.C. Adkins, Jr., Gainesville, for appellant.
Richard W. Ervin, Atty. Gen., and David U. Tumin, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee.
Appellant was convicted of possession and transportation of moonshine whiskey. He seeks reversal on the ground that the arrest without warrant was illegal hence the search of his automobile, incidental thereto, invalid.
Starry, a district supervisor of the state beverage department, in company with two other supervisors, around five in the afternoon discovered 5 gallons of moonshine whiskey in a burlap bag hidden in a palmetto clump three miles West of Ocala at the end of a dirt road about a quarter mile off state highway twenty seven. He drove to Ocala for radio equipment and other assistance. Returning around six P.M., he secreted two of his supervisors within sight of the bag of whiskey and took his stand on the paved highway nearby. Around 7:30 he received by radio the prearranged signal of the approach of an automobile. Shortly thereafter he was advised by radio that a man had picked up the bag of whiskey and was returning to the main highway in a black 1950 Chevrolet. A few minutes later a car of that description entered the main highway from the dirt road. Starry trailed him a short distance, stopped and arrested the driver and forcibly searched his vehicle, finding what appeared to be the same bag of moonshine whiskey he had located earlier that afternoon. Starry had no warrant for the arrest or search.
The circumstances related were ample to justify a reasonable belief on Starry's part that a felony was being committed in his presence, which gave him the right and imposed upon him the duty to arrest without warrant and search the vehicle as an incident thereto. It cannot be said that Starry acted on mere suspicion under the facts of this case.
Appellant also contends that Starry, as a beverage supervisor, was clothed only with the authority of a private citizen in making the arrest, but Section 561.07, F.S.A., expressly provides "Such supervisors shall have all the power of deputy sheriffs in the enforcement of the beverage laws * * *"
Affirmed.
WIGGINTON, Acting Chief Judge, and WILLIS, BEN C., Associate Judge, concur.