United States v. McLaren
957 F. Supp. 215
In the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida
Case Number 96-64 CR-J-99(H)
Before District Judge Hodges
Decided on January 28, 1997

Relevancy of the case: Admissibility of call recordings intercepted by the employer on reasonable suspicion of fraudulent activity

Statutes and Provisions Involved

• The Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act, 18 U.S.C. §§ 2510-2520

Relevant Facts of the Case

• AT&T Wireless Services employed the defendant and gave him access to certain secret codes, which allowed him to fraudulently clone numbers. The cloned telephone gained full service at the company’s cost.
• The employer started an in-house investigation after finding such incidents. They had a reasonable suspicion of the defendant’s involvement in this.
• Therefore, the employer started intercepting and recording all calls made to or from the defendant’s cellular telephone.
• The defendant challenged the call recordings’ evidentiary value before the Magistrate Judge, who recommended suppressing and exclusion of the intercepted communications.

Opinion of the Bench

• The court must consider these three issues for analysing the action of AT &T:
  • If the employer had reasonable cause to suspect the defendant.
  • Whether the interception activities were permissible.
  • If the interception activities were reasonable.
• The inherent illegality may not necessarily be shown in every case in order for a service provider to monitor communication under Section 2511(2)(a)(i).
• A substantial nexus must exist between the interception and specific fraudulent activities.

Final Decision

• The District Court allowed the intercepted recordings to be submitted to determine the relevance of each recording or partial recording during the trial.