Deputies in Brown County, Wisconsin used the Flock cameras automated license plate reader network to log a man’s repeated trips into Michigan, then wrote that travel pattern into a criminal complaint as part of the justification for searching his car for marijuana. The case is State of Wisconsin v. Edward Earl Abrams-Phillips Jr., Brown County Circuit Court No. 2025CF000671, filed April 28, 2025 and now closed. It was first reported by 404 Media’s Jason Koebler on August 5, 2026.
No court has ruled on whether any of this is constitutional. That has not stopped aggregators from saying otherwise, and we will get to that.
What the complaint says about the Flock cameras
Per the charging document as quoted by 404 Media, a deputy got a Flock hit on April 26, 2025 on a vehicle registered to Abrams-Phillips, who had an outstanding felony warrant tied to a domestic violence case. Deputies could not locate the car, so they watched it move across the camera network.
The passage that makes this a story:
“The vehicle was observed hitting flock on several occasions to include 41 northbound from Brown Rd, 41NB and County Line in Marinette [Wisconsin], and 41 NB on Bridge St. going into Michigan. Based on prior flock hits, the vehicle travels to Michigan frequently which is a known source State for Marijuana as it is legal there.”
Later: “Around 3:56 p.m., the vehicle was seen on Flock heading southbound on interstate 41 towards Green Bay [Wisconsin]. Deputies made a coordinated effort to intercept the vehicle on 41 from Brown Rd.”
The stop itself was justified by the active warrant and a suspended registration. The deputy reported smelling raw marijuana and searched over the driver’s refusal to consent. Reported recovery, as relayed by The Marijuana Herald summarizing 404 Media: a grinder, a jar with residue, two labeled bags and a pre-rolled joint totaling 8.22 grams, plus a receipt from a dispensary in Menominee, Michigan. Charges were felony bail jumping, misdemeanor THC possession and paraphernalia. The bail-jumping count was dismissed; he was convicted only of possession.
What no court has decided — and who is getting it wrong
A Townsquare Media station in Duluth ran the headline “Court Rules Flock Camera Data Enough Probable Cause For THC Stop.” That is wrong on both halves. No court ruled anything. This is a sheriff’s deputy’s charging narrative, not a judicial holding. There is no reported suppression hearing in the record either outlet reviewed, no trial ruling on the search, and no appellate decision. Do not call this precedent, because it is not.
Two more things to keep straight. First, separate the stop from the search: the stated basis for the stop was the warrant plus suspended plates, and the stated basis for the search was odor. “He got pulled over for driving to Michigan” overstates the document. Second, everything here — the odor, the refusal, the inventory — comes from law enforcement’s own filing. There is no defense account in the public record.
The Fourth Amendment question nobody has answered
Here is what makes this worth an attorney’s time rather than just a news cycle.
A private camera network logged a man doing something entirely lawful — driving to another state — and that pattern of lawful conduct was written into a sworn document as part of the reason to suspect a crime. Under Carpenter v. United States, the Supreme Court held that long-term aggregated location data can be a search requiring a warrant, because the whole of someone’s movements reveals far more than any single trip. Whether that reasoning extends to a mesh of privately operated ALPRs blanketing public roads is unsettled. Courts are just beginning to face it.
The narrower question is sharper still: can aggregated ALPR data showing a pattern of lawful interstate travel lawfully form part of a reasonable suspicion calculus? Because the logic in this complaint — you went to a state where a thing is legal, therefore you may be committing a crime here — applies to fireworks, to sports betting, to firearms accessories, and to a lot of people who have never touched cannabis.
Nobody has answered it. Somebody should ask a judge. Related: the CDC’s cannabis hyperemesis data and a Michigan ruling on marijuana and probation.
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We break this down on Cannabis Legalization News with Thomas Howard and Miggy 420.
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