Following a bench trial in the Superior Court of Chatham County, Barry Higdon was found guilty of trafficking in cocaine and misdemeanor obstruction of an officer, which charges arose pursuant to the procedures of a federally funded interdiction program, Operation Jet Wave, that resulted in the seizure of cocaine from Higdon. He appeals and, in his sole enumeration of error, claims that for various reasons the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress. Because there was no error, we affirm Higdon’s conviction. On appeal from a motion to suppress, this Court views any conflicts in the evidence in a light most favorable to upholding the trial court’s judgment. Witness credibility rests with the trial court, and we accept that court’s findings on disputed facts and credibility unless clearly erroneous.1 With these principles in mind, the evidence of record shows that Operation Jet Wave’s Special Agent Wolfgang Zeigler, a five-year veteran from the Georgia Bureau of Investigations “GBI” Drug Enforcement Office, received information from a confidential informant “CI” that, on that same day, an individual identified only as “James Dixon” purchased a one-way train ticket to Savannah five minutes before departure and left a contact number with the ticket agent which was unrelated to anyone named “James Dixon.” The CI informed Zeigler that the individual “may or may not” be arriving at the Savannah Amtrak station at approximately 6:30 p.m. on train number 98 from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Ft. Lauderdale is considered a “source” city, wherein large amounts of narcotics arrive from international venues and are subsequently distributed throughout the United States by “drug couriers” via various modes of public transportation. Zeigler testified that the CI, from whom he had obtained information for over six years, has in the past and is currently providing information which has led to the seizure of approximately well over 5 million in currency, 3 kilograms of crack, 6 kilograms of cocaine, a kilogram and a half of heroin, 12 kilograms of methamphetamine and over 200,000 units of pain killers, Dilaudid, things like that. Ziegler further testified that the CI provided information only and did not participate in making narcotics cases.
Over the years, a “drug courier profile” has been adopted by law enforcement agencies, including the GBI, based upon specific actions and behavioral characteristics that, through the shared training, experience and knowledge of agents, have been recognized as consistently present in those acting as transporters of illegal narcotics. Zeigler has been extensively trained to recognize these representative actions and behaviors. He testified that an individual who travels from a source city, purchases a ticket to travel immediately prior to departure, and leaves an incorrect contact number with the transport company exhibits actions consistent with illegal narcotics transport. Zeigler also testified as to the behavioral characteristics that the agents are trained to look for in order to identify drug couriers. He stated that, besides nervous and furtive behavior, there’s more to it than just that. The way an individual walks, the way they carry their bags, how they look around, the speed at which they walk, immediately going to telephones. There’s many indicators and all of them together —one in —one or two or three in and of themselves do not necessarily indicate something but do if there is a combination to use the word the totality of the circumstances. Zeigler made it clear that the GBI’s “drug courier profile” is behavioral and activity based only and has “absolutely nothing to do with sex or gender or race.”
