"Rumor" Helps Support Pat-Down Search

U.S. v. Lazos, 2009 WL 449168 (2/24/09) (unpub'd) - A "rumor" among officers that the defendant was transporting meth from Tucson, AZ, to Lordsburg, NM, properly played a role in the totality of circumstances establishing the need to pat-down the defendant after he was stopped traveling in between those two cities. That the officer testifying about the rumor had a child with the woman the defendant was traveling with [and perhaps had some animus towards the couple] could affect the officer's credibility, but the district court found him credible. The 10th was "troubled" by the officer's testimony that he talked to the defendant to "build more suspicion." But that only went to the officer's subjective intent, which is irrelevant in the make-believe world of reasonable suspicion.