December 21, 2001

By The Associated Press

St Paul Pioneer Press

Evidence police obtained by performing a thermal image scan on a home without a warrant should not be suppressed, even though the search was unreasonable, a state appeals court ruled Thursday.

Special agents with the Iowa County Sheriff's Department did the thermal scan after receiving a tip from an informant that he had seen marijuana growing in Jeffrey Loranger's basement.

Loranger appealed to the 4th District Court of Appeals after Iowa County Circuit Judge William Dyke refused to suppress evidence police found as a result of the scan and a subsequent search of the home.

Loranger claimed that the warrantless thermal search was illegal and therefore could not provide probable cause for police to execute a warrant to search his home.

But the appeals court said police acted in good faith because they were relying on a court decision that said no warrant was required for doing the scan.

The thermal imagery device indicated that an unusual amount of heat was emanating from the basement wall of Loranger's house. Authorities believed that type of heat was generated by indoor plant lights, which can be used to grow marijuana indoors, court papers said.

A court commissioner then issued the search warrant for Loranger's home based on the results of the scan and information obtained that the electric power he used was double the average monthly kilowatt usage for a typical residential home.

Loranger was charged with one count of manufacturing a controlled substance, one count of maintaining a building for the use of manufacturing controlled substances and five counts of possessing a firearm as a felon.