Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 4, 1993 TAG: 9303040067
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LON WAGNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
FIRED C&P EMPLOYEE SUES OVER SEARCH
Daniel Buonocore's problems started when his ex-girlfriend told a Franklin County sheriff's investigator Buonocore had a machine gun and a sawed-off shotgun in his house.The investigator in turn told the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. They went to a magistrate, who granted them a search warrant.
On Nov. 24, ATF agents and Franklin County deputies searched Buonocore's house. Buonocore was a phone repairman.
Agents found no illegal weapons, but a Chesapeake & Potomac Telephone Co. manager apparently was looking for some items that the company thought had been stolen.
Buonocore was fired "almost immediately," his attorney, John Boitnott, said.
Wednesday afternoon, Buonocore filed in U.S. District Court in Roanoke a $10 million lawsuit against C&P Telephone, ATF agent Donald L. Harris, Franklin County Deputy David R. Cundiff, Linda Sue Taylor - his ex-girlfriend - and the C&P manager who went on the search.
The lawsuit alleges that Buonocore's civil rights were violated, because the search warrant was obtained using faulty information provided by Taylor. A former worker in the Franklin County Circuit Court clerk's office, Taylor "has a known reputation for making false accusations against others with whom she has been involved," Buonocore said of his former live-in girlfriend in the lawsuit.
Taylor has moved to Texas, and could not be reached for comment.
Cundiff and C&P declined to comment.
Of the information used to obtain the search warrant, ATF agent Harris said: "It was good enough to satisfy a U.S. magistrate; if it's good enough for him, it's good enough for me."
But in the lawsuit, Boitnott alleges that Buonocore's rights were violated under the Fourth and 14th amendments to the U.S. Constitution. The Fourth Amendment guarantees a person's right to be secure "in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures." The 14th Amendment guarantees a person due process of the law.
Even if the search warrant had been obtained properly, Boitnott said it didn't give government agents the right to invite C&P to search Buonocore's house for telephone company property.
"He's coming in under the authority of a federal search warrant and conducting a private search," Boitnott said.
In making her initial complaint, Taylor said Buonocore had taken items belonging to the phone company.
According to the lawsuit, during the Nov. 24 search Buonocore heard someone knocking at his front door. It was 8:15 p.m., and dark. He went outside to let his caller into the basement where he was sitting and heard, "Put your hands up and don't move."
While some agents and deputies searched the house, others, with weapons drawn, told Buonocore to stand still. Then Buonocore noticed one man opening cabinets and drawers and jotting down notes.
Buonocore asked the man his name. At first, he refused to give it. Later, he said he was Jim Thompson with C&P security. Thompson is assistant manager at C&P's Lynchburg offices.
Buonocore has started a grievance procedure over his firing. Boitnott said the company told his client he was fired for "employee misconduct."
"I have never seen an itemized list of anything they said he had," Boitnott said.