The State - News from Jan. 7, 1985

Postal authorities failed to obtain a warrant to monitor an electronic bug they had placed in an envelope of cocaine from Bolivia, forcing the dismissal of charges against a San Mateo County man. Postal Inspector William Halonen obtained a warrant to search and seize five envelopes and was legally entitled to place the electronic beeper into one of them to trace its movements. But a Superior Court judge ruled that authorities needed a second warrant to monitor the bug when it was inside the home of Leland Hobbs, who was later arrested. The decision stemmed from a state Supreme Court ruling three weeks before Hobbs’ July arrest that a separate warrant is necessary to monitor a bug when it is in a private residence instead of a public place.