United States v. Alex Pedrin, Jr.

Opinion by Judge W. FLETCHER; Dissent by Judge NOONAN.

OPINION

W. FLETCHER, Circuit Judge:

In this appeal, we again address what constitutes “outrageous government conduct” in the context of a reverse sting operation.

I. Background

For several decades, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (“ATF”) has conducted reverse sting operations in order to identify and apprehend people who can be enticed into robbing fictitious drug “stash houses” (houses in which drugs are “stashed”). In these “stash house stings,” an undercover agent poses as a disgruntled drug courier with knowledge about a stash…