A bank robber’s cellphone gave him away. Now the Supreme Court is hearing his case

AP News ^ | Updated 8:57 AM CDT, April 25, 2026 | MARK SHERMAN

[E. Pluribus Unum]

WASHINGTON (AP) — Okello Chatrie’s cellphone gave him away.

Chatrie made off with $195,000 from the bank he robbed in suburban Richmond, Virginia, and eluded the police until they turned to a powerful technological tool that erected a virtual fence and allowed them collect the location history of cellphone users near the crime scene.

The geofence warrant police served on Google found that Chatrie’s cellphone was among a handful of devices in the vicinity of the bank around the time it was robbed.

Now the Supreme Court will decide whether geofence warrants violate the Fourth Amendment’s ban on unreasonable searches. It’s the latest high court case that forces the justices to wrestle with how a constitutional provision ratified in 1791 applies to technology the nation’s founders could not have contemplated in their wildest dreams.

Chatrie’s appeal is one of two cases being argued Monday. The other is an effort by Bayer to have the court block thousands of state lawsuits alleging the global agrochemical manufacturer failed to warn people that its popular Roundup weedkiller could cause cancer.

Geofence warrants turn the usual way of pursuing suspects on its head. Typically, police identify a suspect and then obtain a warrant to search a home or a phone.

With geofence warrants, police do not have a suspect, only a location where a crime took place. They work in reverse to identify people who were in the area.

Prosecutors credit the warrants with helping crack cold cases and other crimes where surveillance cameras did not reveal suspects’ faces or license plates.

Civil libertarians say that geofences amount to fishing expeditions that subject many innocent people to searches of private records merely because their cellphones happened to be in the vicinity of a crime. A Supreme Court ruling in favor of the technique could “unleash a...”

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TOPICS: Crime/Corruption
KEYWORDS: associatedpress; givehimthechair; leftistsource; marksherman; okellochatrie; richmond; virginia

[E. Pluribus Unum]

If this goes the bankrobber's way, hundreds of J6 political prisoners are going to have a heck of a class action lawsuit against the feral government.

[Dacula]

Okello Chatrie - Traditional name for a NON US citizen.

[P8riot]

What’s the problem? They do it all of the time on “Criminal Minds”.

[algore]

Everyone knows, or should know about cel phone tracking data how and why you are tracked, and also what are called Stingrays or IMSI catchers.

Ignorance of technology is not an excuse.

on the other hand I would be happy to argue that alprs should be illegal, especially for private companies such as metropolis.io, and Flock

[Alberta's Child]

I thought the Supreme Court already weighed in on this within the last ten years. The Fourth Amendment doesn’t apply in a case like this because the cell phone GPS data belongs to the phone company, not the person.

[Governor Dinwiddie]

No different than "Calling All Cars" from the days when radio equipped cop cars were something new. "BOLA — be on the lookout …"

[Sacajaweau]

I think the call is “imminent”...no warrant necessary. It’s an active event.

[AndyJackson]

The J6 case is distinguishable in other ways. Traveling to DC, staying in a hotel in DC, attending a protest in DC is not a crime and therefore no probable cause to search for criminals.

[HartleyMBaldwin]

I always leave my cell phone at home when I go out to rob a bank.

[ConservativeMind]

He should be given the electric chair for a variety of reasons.

[lgjhn23]

“..I always leave my cell phone at home when I go out to rob a bank....”

IF I should ever decide to go off-grid and elctronically off the face of the earth, I’m going ot a truck stop and hide my cellphone somewhater on a long-distance freight truck. Whatever direction, that truck goes, I’ll be going in some other direction.....LOL

[Yogafist]

What is next? Can’t use available video from cameras that might be in the vicinity to see who accessed the location?

[Cold Heart]

Now the Supreme Court is hearing his Case, via cell phone:)

[Libloather]

They work in reverse to identify people who were in the area.

Finding suspects. It's their job.

[jttpwalsh]

Actually happened about 15 years ago. Guy at a gas station threw his cell phone into th bed of a pickup truck when he figured out they were going to Vegas, then gave a young couple his credit card, and said to use it frequently as they headed to San Diego. He headed north to the San Fran area. Ended up getting ratted out by a family member. Can’t remember what he did, but it was a pretty revolutionary red herring, at the time.

[suasponte137]

Not sure how this in practice is any different then a road block or checkpoint where police stop every care on a road in one or both directions looking from drunk drivers or something else.

[Scrambler Bob]

If they stop you and you are drunk, they have you red handed.

If the geofence data has any errors in it innocent folks are threatened.

[logi_cal869]

If this goes the bank robber's way, hundreds of J6 political prisoners are going to have a heck of a class action lawsuit against the feral government.

I don't view it as 'going the bank robber's way'.

Such sweeps are no different than rounding up everyone within a mile radius of a crime. I don't believe it will stand up in SCOTUS. IMHO it shouldn't.

The robber's attorney is just clever & smart. If he gets off, it's the government's fault.

[going hot]

Or any other activity that might interest the feds.

At least a burner.