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8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

9 FOR THE CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

10 Case No. 5: 24-cv-02352-SSS-SSC 11 KEVIN MASSENGALE,

12 Plaintiff, ORDER ACCEPTING 13 FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS OF v. 14 UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 15 SHANNON DICUS, et al.

16 Defendants. 17 18 19 Pursuant to

the Court has reviewed all of the records 20 herein, the Report and Recommendation of United States Magistrate Judge, and 21 Plaintiff’s objections to the Report and Recommendation. The Court has 22 engaged in a de novo review of those portions of the Report and 23 Recommendation to which Plaintiff has objected. 24 The action is based on Plaintiff’s encounter with San Bernardino County 25 Sheriff’s deputies that led to Plaintiff’s arrest for having fraudulent license 26 plates on his vehicle. The Report recommends dismissal of Plaintiff’s First 27 Amended Complaint for failure to state a claim on which relief may be granted, 1 Report [Dkt. 11-12] do not warrant a change to the Magistrate Judge’s findings 2 or recommendation. 3 Plaintiff requests leave to amend, with a proposed Second Amended 4 Complaint. [Dkt. 11 at 2]. The Court agrees with the Magistrate Judge that 5 Plaintiff’s proposed Second Amended Complaint “suffers from the same 6 deficiencies as his prior pleadings, i.e., Plaintiff has presented facts establishing 7 that he was lawfully detained and arrested, his allegations that would support a 8 contrary finding are premised on frivolous sovereign-citizen type arguments, 9 and his First Amendment claim is foreclosed by the very fact that his arrest was 10 lawful under the Fourth Amendment.” [Dkt. 13 at 2]. Thus, leave to amend is 11 denied. 12 Plaintiff objects that his ultimate arrest for unlawful vehicle registration 13 was not supported by probable cause, because he was not required to register his 14 vehicle. [Dkt. 11 at 2-4]. But as the Report found, based on Plaintiff’s 15 allegation that he had only “private plates” on his vehicle, Deputy Ragland had 16 probable cause to believe that the license plates were fraudulent and therefore 17 had probable cause to arrest Plaintiff. [Dkt. 9 at 11]. Plaintiff’s argument, 18 apparently based on sovereign-citizen principles, that he was not required to 19 comply with state laws regarding vehicle registration is frivolous.

. 20 Plaintiff objects that the officers only had reasonable suspicion of 21 criminal conduct, which was not sufficient to arrest him. [Dkt. 11 at 4-7]. As 22 the Report found, Deputy Ragland’s initial detention of Plaintiff was supported 23 by reasonable suspicion because, as Plaintiff openly admits, he had “private 24 plates” rather than state-issued license plates on his automobile. [Dk. 9 at 10]. 25 Plaintiff objects that the County of San Bernardino is liable under Monell 26 v. Dept. of Social Servs. Of City of New York,

(1978), for its 27 training, supervision, and policies regarding deputy sheriffs. [Dkt. 11 at 7-10]. 1 || training, supervision, or policies were unlawful. [Dkt. 9 at 17]. Moreover, || because Plaintiff has not alleged an underlying constitutional violation, he has || failed to plead sufficient facts to state a claim for Monell liability.

4 Plaintiff objects that he has a constitutional right to travel. [Dkt. 12 at 1- || 2]. But as the Report found, the implication of this assertion, that he was not 6 || bound by the state’s registration laws, is frivolous. [Dkt. 9 at 13]. Although || Plaintiff objects to being labeled or stigmatized as a sovereign citizen [Dkt. 12 8 || at 2-3], it is the substance of his argument, not the label, that is frivolous. It is || frivolous to argue that one has an unfettered constitutional right to drive on 10 || public roads without having state-issued license plates. 11 The Court accepts the findings and conclusions of the Magistrate Judge in 12 || the Report and Recommendation. 13 IT IS ORDERED that judgment be entered dismissing this action 14 || with prejudice for failure to state a claim on which relief can be granted. 15 16 || DATED: February 12, 2025 17 18 SUNSHINE S2YSYKES 19 United States District Judge 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28