GPS tracking like a stakeout; Lawyer notes arson suspects were `watched' on public roads.

Byline: Karen Nugent

Arson suspects Michael P. Dreslinski and John D. Rousseau, both of Clinton, had been spotted by police across the state since previous charges against Mr. Rousseau of setting five fires in Clinton were dropped last December and he was released from house arrest.

Reports from various police departments and other agencies that the two 28-year-old men had been seen in the evening and early morning hours at various, far-apart cities and towns would be regularly posted on the Clinton Police Department bulletin board. Among the locations were Wayland, Sudbury and Rutland, and Greenfield and Rowe in the western part of the state.

Those reports, along with the men's 15-year involvement with police, prompted state police on July 19 to apply for a warrant allowing the placement of a global positioning system on Mr. Dreslinski's red 2006 Ford Ranger truck.

Ten days later, the truck was tracked by the GPS unit to an abandoned Erving paper mill a half-hour before a fire that destroyed the mill was reported. Mr. Dreslinski and Mr. Rousseau were arrested Sunday and charged with setting the fire. They also are suspects in fires Aug. 12 and 13 in Sterling and Holden. The Sterling fire resulted in the destruction of the historic Mary Elizabeth Sawyer house, of "Mary had a Little Lamb" fame.

No injuries were reported in any of the fires.

Police said the warrant, called a "Blood warrant" after a 1987 criminal case brought by the state against a man named William Blood, allows a Superior Court judge - not district court judges or magistrates because of the larger geographical area involved - to grant permission to state police to place a GPS tracking device on a vehicle. GPS technicians under contract with the state police covertly install the devices.

The warrant in the Rousseau-Dreslinski case said the two men were the subjects of a multi-jurisdictional fire investigation, according to police. The arrests and warrants were handled by the state attorney general's office, but involved state police, the state fire marshal's office and several local police departments.

Attorney General Martha Coakley described it as an "exhaustive joint investigation."

On Sunday and Monday, state, local and federal agents spent hours at Mr. Rousseau's Wilson Street home, where he lives with his parents, and at Mr. Dreslinski's Water Street apartment, owned by his father. Bags of evidence possibly linking them to numerous break-ins and other crimes around the state were loaded into trucks and cars. Officer Edward V. Brescia, a Clinton detective, said the extent of the alleged crimes is still unclear.

Fitchburg lawyer Edward P. Ryan Jr., a past president of the Massachusetts Bar Association and a member of its criminal justice section, said Wednesday that while it is not common for state and local police to use GPS technology to track suspects, it has been used in some federal cases.

There are no specific Massachusetts laws, case law or authority in place dealing with GPS tracking, he said, although federal cases dating

to the 1980s involve

early forms of tracking devices, such as beepers and homing devices.

The first experimental GPS satellite was launched by the military in 1978. In 1983, after a Korean airliner was shot down in restricted Soviet airspace, President Ronald Reagan announced that the GPS system would be available for civilian uses once it was completed. In 1996, with 24 satellites in orbit, the system was opened to civilians, although law enforcement agencies already were using it by then.

"It's really less of an intrusion than a Fourth Amendment (governing unreasonable search and seizures) search, or recording a conversation. It's a public conveyance - they are moving on public roadways, not going into private homes," Mr. Ryan said.

He compared the GPS installation to having hundreds of officers doing an around-the-clock stakeout of the two men, perhaps using helicopters.

"They don't need a warrant to do that," he said.

"Here, you have something physical (the GPS device) that doesn't require sworn testimony of the officers, who could have looked away for a minute."

Mr. Ryan said if the GPS device had been placed on Mr. Dreslinski's truck without first obtaining a warrant, the case probably would have been challenged in court.

"I think getting the warrant was a good thing. If they had done it on their own, there would have been a lot of legal issues raised," Mr. Ryan said.

Mr. Ryan, a former prosecutor, said a Supreme Court case involving the use of tracking devices by authorities was decided in 1983 and 1984. The tracking devices used, he said, were pre-GPS technology and more akin to beepers and homing devices. The court decided that police must have reasonable suspicion or probable cause to install a device.

Mr. Ryan said other legal issues emerge when devices enter private homes.

He described a case in which the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, while trying to locate a methamphetamine lab, got permission to place a GPS unit inside a can of chemicals used in making the illegal drug. The agency then tracked the "march of chemicals," Mr. Ryan said, but was not able to use information from the GPS unit once it entered a private home.

The Blood case, which was ultimately decided by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, dealt with police using evidence from conversations exchanged in private homes, or by recording or wiretapping without first obtaining a warrant. The defendants, William Blood and Ernest Lorenzo, were convicted of breaking into a business in Lynn to steal gold bars valued at $3 million.

The conviction was overturned by the Supreme Judicial Court, citing a violation of Article 14 of the Massachusetts Constitution that says everyone has the right to be secure from all unreasonable searches and seizures of his person, house, papers and all his possessions.

The article also says: "All warrants, therefore, are contrary to this right, if the cause or foundation of them be not previously supported by oath or affirmation."

Mr. Ryan said getting the "Blood" warrant in the Rousseau-Dreslinski case is an added layer of protection, in case the placement of the GPS unit is challenged in court by citing the state constitution.

Mr. Dreslinski's truck began its trek around 4 p.m. July 29, leaving his home in Clinton, and stopping at Mr. Rousseau's home.

The truck was then tracked by satellite to Greenfield, Deerfield, Charlemont, Rowe and North Adams, then back through Greenfield to Erving, where the truck stopped on the grounds of the Usher Mill at 12:05 a.m. July 30.

Mr. Rousseau and Mr. Dreslinski have a long history of run-ins with police, beginning when they were minors.

When they were 17, they were convicted of vandalism at a Bolton school construction site, and Mr. Rousseau was ordered to serve 6 months in the Worcester County Jail and House of Correction.

He received a 1-year sentence for animal cruelty in 2000, after beating two skunks to death with a trash can.

He was subsequently charged in a 2003 six-month arson spree in Clinton, in abandoned buildings and a trash bin, but the cases were dismissed because a judge ruled that incriminating statements were made while Mr. Rousseau was not taking medication prescribed for his mental health problems.

The two also have been arrested for burglary, impersonating park rangers and police officers, and breaking into police and railroad radio frequencies.

Mr. Dreslinski, described by police as a pyromaniac, has been charged with stalking, threatening people over a citizens band radio, and starting several fires in Lancaster.

The warrant: The law allows a Superior Court judge to grant permission to state police to place a GPS tracking device on a vehicle. GPS technicians covertly install the devices.

The results: Mr. Dreslinski's truck was tracked by the GPS unit to the abandoned Erving paper mill a half-hour before a fire that destroyed the mill was reported.

The quote: `It's really less of an intrusion than a Fourth Amendment (governing unreasonable search and seizures) search, or recording a conversation.' - Edward P. Ryan Jr., Fitchburg lawyer

ART: PHOTOS

CUTLINE: (PHOTO 1) Mr. Rousseau; (PHOTO 2) Mr. Dreslinski