have participated in investigations wherein most traditional law enforcement techniques,including the drafting and execution of search warrants, have been utilized. I have also beeninvolved in investigations that required the drafting and execution of search warrants forcomputers. I have been assigned to an investigation of employees of Pilot Corporation, PilotTravel Centers, LLC, and PilotFlying J (hereinafter "Pilot," which is again defined below) fordevising and conspiring to devise a scheme to defraud by use of the mail and the transmission ofwire communication in interstate commerce, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 371 (conspiracy), 1341(mail fraud), 1343 (wire fraud), and 1349 (conspiracy).2. This affidavit is intended to show only that there is sufficient probable cause forthe requested warrant and does not set forth all of my knowledge about this matter. Thisaffidavit is based on my personal knowledge and observations made during the course of theinvestigation of possible violations of 18 U.S.C. §§ 371, 1341, 1343, and 1349, arising from aconspiracy and scheme to defraud executed by various Pilot employees to deceptively withholddiesel fuel price rebates and discounts from Pilot customers (a term which is defined below),without the knowledge or approval of the customer, for the dual purposes of increasing theprofitability of Pilot and increasing the diesel sales commissions of the Pilot employeesparticipating in the fraud, information conveyed to me by other law enforcement and governmentofficials, including my review of interview and investigative memoranda prepared by myself andother law enforcement agents during the course of this investigation, information provided by aperson acting as a Confidential Human Source (referred to herein as CHS-1 ), informationprovided by former Pilot employee Cathy Giesick and a current Pilot employee who is referredto herein as CHS-2, and information obtained from consensually recorded conversations and thePage 2 of 120<strong>Affidavit</strong> of Special Agent Robert H. Root, FBI, in support of search warrant applications for the following:the office building located at 5500 Lonas Drive, Knoxville, Tennessee;the office building located at 5508 Lonas Drive, Knoxville, Tennessee;the commercial building located at 1339 E. Weisgarber Road, Knoxville, Tennesseethe residence located at 4302 Dakota Avenue, Nashville, Tennessee;the residence located at 2211 Blair Drive, Hebron, Kentucky; andthe residence located at 3317 Westminster Road, Bettendorf, Iowa.Case 3:13-mj-02028 Document 4 Filed 04/18/13 Page 2 of 120 PageID #: 41
transcriptions thereof. This affidavit does not recount all of the investigative activities that haveoccurred in conjunction with this investigation. Additionally, while this affidavit containsnumerous transcript excerpts from numerous consensually recorded conversations, this affidavitdoes not excerpt or summarize every conversation that has been consensually recorded duringthe course of this investigation.I. Purpose of <strong>Affidavit</strong>3. This affidavit is made in support of applications under Rule 41 of the FederalRules of Criminal Procedure for warrants to search the following:a. the office building located at 5500 Lonas Drive, Knoxville, Tennessee(hereinafter "the 5500 Lonas Drive Property") further described and depicted inAttachment A1, for the items described in Attachment A2. The 5500 Lonas DriveProperty is identified as Building 1, 5500 Lonas Road, on the Pilot Park officepark directory sign.b. the office building located at 5508 Lonas Drive, Knoxville, Tennessee(hereinafter "the 5508 Lonas Drive Property") further described and depicted inAttachment B 1, for the items described in Attachment B2.c. the commercial building located at 1339 E. W eisgarber Road, Knoxville,Tennessee (hereinafter "the 1339 E. W eisgarber Road Property") furtherdescribed and depicted in Attachment C 1, for the items described in AttachmentC2.Page 3 of 120<strong>Affidavit</strong> of Special Agent Robert H. Root, FBI, in support of search warrant applications for the following:the office building located at 5500 Lonas Drive, Knoxville, Tennessee;the office building located at 5508 Lonas Drive, Knoxville, Tennessee;the commercial building located at 1339 E. Weisgarber Road, Knoxville, Tennesseethe residence located at 4302 Dakota Avenue, Nashville, Tennessee;the residence located at 2211 Blair Drive, Hebron, Kentucky; andthe residence located at 3317 Westminster Road, Bettendorf, Iowa.Case 3:13-mj-02028 Document 4 Filed 04/18/13 Page 3 of 120 PageID #: 42
- Page 1: AFFIDAVIT IN SUPPORT OF SEARCH wARR
- Page 5 and 6: Regional Sales Managers, Regional A
- Page 7 and 8: 1. Based on information provided by
- Page 9 and 10: FBI in the investigation of the Pil
- Page 11 and 12: the event he was ever contacted by
- Page 13 and 14: Dakota Avenue Property, the 2211 Bl
- Page 15 and 16: 1. Vincent Greco (Greco). Greco is
- Page 17 and 18: y. Holly Radford (Radford). Radford
- Page 19 and 20: Iowa. While based out of Texas and
- Page 21 and 22: Customer for the reduced amount inp
- Page 23 and 24: informed Jones about the deal by wa
- Page 25 and 26: 40. CHS-2 stated that an example of
- Page 27 and 28: Trucking complaint, but at that tim
- Page 29 and 30: thousand, make it ninety thousand.
- Page 31 and 32: CHS-2: Brian gave you no files, pap
- Page 33 and 34: CHS-2: You know what I'm saying?CRU
- Page 35 and 36: CHS-2: Yeah, I mean that's why I've
- Page 37 and 38: CRUTCHMAN: I don't know.CHS-2: I th
- Page 39 and 40: CHS-2: Well, now there's a ..CRUTCH
- Page 41 and 42: MCFARLAND: Mmmhmm. Urn, this one is
- Page 43 and 44: CHS-2: Is it a pain in the butt, I
- Page 45 and 46: MCFARLAND: Yeah, which were John's,
- Page 47 and 48: 60. During this October 25, 2012 me
- Page 49 and 50: 63. Prior to Hazelwood's arrival, d
- Page 51 and 52: 64. Later during the October 25, 20
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with it?" He goes, "Hmmph. Humph, h
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month and their pay based on that,
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means, 'cause, frankly, he's lazy,
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RADFORD: And what did I tell you? W
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environments, 'cause we can do the
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DILLON: And Katy just started this,
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JONES: We've been kinda rolling, ye
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him screwin' him, we cut him a chec
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CHS-2: But you pay the Postal Servi
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CHS-2: Yeah, and that's what Brian-
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deceiving some Customers in his old
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ANDREWS: She didn't deliver that. S
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ANDREWS: I mean you .. you got to k
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CHS-2: Well, I mean, again, there's
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ANDREWS: Are you serious, man?FREEM
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82. From February 15, 2013, through
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Freeman also stressed that the best
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88. On February 22, 2013, CHS-2 con
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CRUTCHMAN: Kristen.CHS-2: Geez, how
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Trucking. And that's because the ga
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CRUTCHMAN: Yeah, he'd rather put, t
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CRUTCHMAN: I mean, you can run a re
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CHS-2: She showed it to me one time
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actually paid the Customer; any pri
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that documents related to the consp
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VII.There is probable cause to beli
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113. On April 5, 2013, CHS-2 advise
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118. On April8, 2013, pursuant to a
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130. Accordingly, your affidavit re
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single document can reside at multi
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completely unrelated to the crimina
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d. The process of identifying the e
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14 7. Records sought under this war
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enforcement officers will, to the e