Body-Cam Transcript Of Jeff Koistinen Traffic Stop

(Editor’s Note: It has been 3,101 days since Jeffrey Koistinen claimed he would shut down Repo Buzz.)

On or about August 17, 2022, Jeffrey Koistinen and his wife, Genevie, drove from their home in Marana, Arizona, at approximately 6:20 p.m. At approximately 6:23 p.m., Tucson Police Officer Phillip Hengsteler was directed to conduct a traffic stop on the white Tesla SUV Koistinen was driving.

According to the filing, law enforcement had already obtained a search warrant for Koistinen’s residence and were conducting surveillance when the couple left their driveway. After Koistinen exited the vehicle, additional officers arrived on scene. Officer Hengsteler’s body-worn camera recorded the encounter, and officers had already established Koistinen’s identity and address before he exited the vehicle.

The following is a transcript of the body worn cameras of the traffic stop.

EXHIBIT A — Transcript of Body Worn Camera of Officer Hengsteler

Ofc. Hengsteler (“H”): (00:35) Hey sir, how are you?
Jeffrey Koistinen (“JK”): Good
H: I’m good. How are you today? Good.
H: Do you have your license, insurance and registration?
JK: Yeah.
H: Perfect.
JK: What did you stop me for?
H: (00:45) If you would step out and have a quick word what’s going. And then I have to ask, just because it’s Tucson, not that you don’t have a right to it, but are there any weapons in the vehicle?
JK: Nope.
H: Okay. Perfect.
JK: (unintelligible)
H: Ok. Thank you, sir. What is your, Mr. …
JK: Koistinen
H: Koitsinen?
JK: Yep.
H: (01:30) Okay. Valid 2-23-2021. We can worry about that later. Yeah, if you step back here, it’s
JK: Sure.
H: (02:30) Metro 104 Traffic. It’s going to be young. Tom, Edward, Sam, Lincoln, Adam we are at Moore and Thornydale.
H: (03:05) Koistinen, right?
JK: Koistinen, yep.
H: Koistinen. That’s an awesome name. So Mr. Koistinen, apparently there is an investigation involving you and your residence. Are you aware of anything going on like that?
JK: Not at my residence. I know there was two other houses that I own there a problem.
H: So again, I don’t even know if it’s a problem per se in regards to your residence, but essentially your residence is involved.
JK: How is my residence involved?
H: There’s going to be a detective come and explain all that to you. I’m just kind of the guy that comes out here and makes contact with you. So we’re going to be hanging out for a while.
JK: Ok.
H: (03:46) You’re not free to go.
JK: Can we go back to my house?
H: We can, momentarily. I understand. I see you have your wife- is that your wife?
JK: (04:00) My wife, she’s, yep.
H: I don’t want to make assumptions, but she’s pretty,
JK: She’s pretty – she’s very far along.
H: Yeah. Okay. So look, I’m a human. I treat people right. You won’t, won’t get any negativity from me. I want good for all human beings. And that’s the way I was raised and that’s the way I was raised with this job. So is that your attorney?
JK: Yep.
H: Okay.
JK: I’m going to give the card to my wife.
H: Yeah, absolutely.
JK: (04:27) Hey Genevie, send a text message to this number right there.
H: He’s actually in – your attorney drives the white.
JK: Yeah.
H: Yeah, we’re already talking to him. So he’s aware. So you can come hang out with me please. Yeah, so.
JK: You don’t need to say anything.
H: So that’s where we’re at.
JK: (04:53) We were told my our attorney don’t say anything to you guys.
H: Hey, that is your constitutional right. If anybody loves the constitution to me. So we can just hang out and we can talk about the sky, we can talk about these nice people you’ve got or we can just stand, it’s going to be up to you. And my goal will be to get you back to that residence as quickly as possible.
JK: Okay.
H: There’s going to be a warrant served at that house.
JK: Are they going to mess shit it up or –
H: No, we don’t –
JK: Well what are they going to do? Because you guys went over to Brandon’s house and
H: Well, I wasn’t there.
JK: (05:28) Okay.
H: So I don’t know anything that happened at Brandon’s house. I don’t know if there was dirt left on the floor or what status that house was in. Because I was not never there. I got brought into this noon today.
JK: Okay.
H: But I can tell you that we are held to a very high standard, especially given what we do and who we work for that we don’t get to just treat people’s property poorly.
JK: Alright.
H: (06:00) And if we are, if there’s anyone in our group that makes the decision to do that, they’re probably not going to like the end result. So, that’s where we’re at. Do you have any questions for me?
JK: No.
H: No? We’re just going to hang out out as soon as I get work from the bosses and the detectives (unintelligible).
H: (06:23) Are they down there now?
JK: I’m not sure where they’re at. I know there are some detectives close to your house. I dunno how close.
JK: Are they down there, talking with the attorney and Brandon?
H: Yes, there’s a group with them.
JK: Okay.
H: (06:38) I am not going to put you in handcuffs right now, but I may have to.
JK: I mean you have no reason to.
H: (06:50) Well what I’m hearing is technically you might be under arrest, so I don’t want to do that. I think clearly you’ve done very, very well for yourself. You’re not looking to make a complicated situation more complicated, so I’m not going to do that. Especially (unintelligible).
JK: (07:12) Okay.
H: You are being detained. (Unintelligible). (Sound turned off from 07:33-07:49)
H: (07:55) Let me call my boss. Could you hand out with him for a minute? (Sound turned off 08:08-10:21)
Unidentified Officer: No, not yet.
H: Not yet. I was just going to try and remove the cellular devices.
H: Hi, ma’am. How are you?
Genevie Koistinen (“GK”): Okay.
H: Good. Good. Hey, so would you — this is just an officer safety thing. I’m not going to go through your items.
GK: Okay.
H: I’m not going to go through any of it. Believe me, I — I have a strong respect for the Constitution and all that it does. And I understand that you guys have all spoken with your attorney, so I’m not even going to ask you questions, but I would like to hold onto your items. Would you be okay with that?
GK: (Unintelligible) what items?
H: (10:57) Your purse and your phone, mainly. I’m just going to put them over here. It — it’s more an officer safety thing. I don’t want you calling somebody that might show up and make this a more – even more complicated situation. So would you be okay with that, just putting them right here?
GK: My purse?
H: And your phone.
GK: (Unintelligible).
H: You can put your phone — yeah. Thank you so much. I appreciate that. And then is that your husband’s phone?
GK: No, this is my glucose test.
H: Oh, okay.
GK: (Unintelligible).
H: Where’s his phone?
GK: What’s that?
H: His phone.
GK: I don’t know.
H: You don’t know. (11:30) Okay. No worries. No trouble at all. If you start to get too warm or anything or you feel uncomfortable, you let me know right away. I want to make sure you’re comfortable. Okay?
Unidentified Officer: You need some bags bro?
H: No, I got a dog back there.
H: (12:39) He’s under arrest, yeah. She is not, this needs to be, they need to get an addendum to the warrant to search that. So.
H: (13:30) Where’s your phone?
JK: What’s that?
H: Where’s Your phone?
JK: It’s in the car, or she has it.

EXHIBIT B — Transcript of Body-Worn Camera of Officer Duarte
Officer Cameron Duarte BWC – Jeffrey Koistinen Arrest August 17, 2022

Officer Duarte (01:36): You guys expecting somebody? You expecting somebody?

Officer Hengsteler (03:19): Can you go ahead and search him?

Officer Duarte (03:24): Can you do me a favor. Hands behind your back. Lace your fingers. Lace fingers intertwined them between each other. There you go. Just like that. No weapons or anything on you.

Officer Duarte (04:43): You are not free to leave. You are under arrest. These officers are going to let you know exactly what your charges are. I just got here (inaudible).

Officer Duarte (05:04): Just a little bag. Do you have a cage or no?

Officer Hengsteler (05:08): No (inaudible).

Officer Duarte (05:09): Oh, okay. That’s fine. I’ll put him in my (inaudible).

Mr. Koistinen (05:10): You guys aren’t arresting my wife, are you?

Officer Duarte (05:12): I have no idea man. I just got here. I’m going to put you in the back of my car. I’ll get the air on.

Officer Duarte (05:30): No rush to get in the car.

Mr. Koistinen (05:31): It’s kind hard to – can you give that the bag of my stuff to my wife because my credit card’s in there.

Officer Duarte (05:38): Perfect. I can do that. So you want her to have everything that –

Mr. Koistinen (05:41): Yeah, she can just have everything.

Officer Duarte (05:42): Yep. Okay. Lemme get this. 5-5-0. Lincoln – 1 – 3. Car (inaudible). Stand by.

Mr. Koistinen (05:58): Some change in there.

Officer Duarte (06:00): Yeah. I’m just going to get it all out.

Officer Hengsteler (06:20): Just put this on your front seat?

Officer Duarte (06:22): Yeah, he said all of it can go with his wife

Officer Hengsteler (06:24): Ok.

Officer Hengsteler (06:41): Where’s your phone?

Mr. Koistinen (06:41): What’s that?

Officer Hengsteler (06:41): Where’s your phone?

Mr. Koistinen (06:43): (Unintelligible)

Officer Duarte (07:19): Got the air on.

Mr. Koistinen (07:21): Yeah. I can feel it.

Officer Duarte (07:40): Are the keys to the house in this car? Let me ask him.

Officer Duarte (07:54): Are the keys to your house on your key ring for this car?

Mr. Koistinen (07:57): This car just has a little key card.

Officer Duarte (08:01): To get into where? To open your garage or open your gate or,

Mr. Koistinen (08:05): Well, my front door’s not locked.

Officer Duarte (08:07): Your front door’s unlocked?

Mr. Koistinen (08:08): Yep.

Officer Duarte (08:09): Okay. So you don’t have the keys to your house right

Mr. Koistinen (08:10): Now? No, I think they’re – I don’t think I have any keys on me. But I know the front door’s unlocked, so-

Officer Duarte (08:16): Okay.

Officer Duarte (09:36): Do you have any dogs or anything in your house?

Mr. Koistinen (09:38): Yeah, we have a Shihtzu and two Pomeranians in there.

Officer Duarte (09:40): Okay. So just the three little dogs?

Mr. Koistinen (09:43): Yeah

Officer Duarte (09:44): They’re not vicious or anything like that?

Mr. Koistinen (09:46): No.

Officer Duarte (10:11): Do they run around the house or are they kenneled up?

Mr. Koistinen (10:18): (Unintelligible) The front door’s unlocked. (Unintelligible).

Officer Duarte (11:38): These are my car

Sgt Dittiger (12:14): Two of the dogs are out rolling around or

Mr. Koistinen (12:15): I can’t remember (unintelligible).

Sgt Dittiger (12:28): Where’s she at? Where’s wife now?

Officer Duarte (12:44): And obviously last chance, there’s nothing else on you? Nothing hidden anywhere that I can’t see. Nothing in your shoes. So it’s anything like that. Okay.

Mr. Koistinen (12:52): No. Did they say what’s going on here?

Officer Duarte (12:54): Yeah. I’ll get with these guys in a little bit and then I’ll get more info for you. Basically, like I said, I showed up late to the party. I’m just following orders at this point. So in the meantime, just make sure you’re comfortable, hang out if you have any questions for you, we’ll come up and,

Officer Duarte (42:45): Hey man. That gated area where you have that box trailer at?

Mr. Koistinen (42:48): Yeah.

Officer Duarte (42:49): How do you get in there?

Mr. Koistinen (42:50): You just got to pull, there’s a small, the small part of the gate and then there’s the bigger part of the gate.

Officer Duarte (42:57): Okay.

Mr. Koistinen (42:57): So if you pull the small, you got to kind of force it, lift it up and pull it out. And then on the other one, the other one will swing out. You just got to release the little hook in the ground.

Officer Duarte (43:11): Okay. It’s one of those little drop latches that goes in the dirt?

Mr. Koistinen (43:13): Yeah. Or you can also get in there through the back if you want it. Open. The big one, you can get in there if you just need to. Are you trying to get inside the trailer? Yep. Yeah, so you can also just go, it’s easier to go through the back garage. Oh. Maybe through the backyard area. There’s a gate. There’s a little door back there into that area.

Officer Duarte (43:34): Okay. Alright.

Mr. Koistinen (43:35): Yep. And then there’s a walk-in on the side of the trailer that is unlocked.

Officer Duarte (43:41): Okay. Yep. Did you get all that? Okay. So he said there’s a small portion of the gate and a big portion of the gate you got to lift and pull the small portion, kind of force it open. And then the big one also.

It is important to note that the account above comes from a recently filed Motion to Suppress Post-Arrest Statements and Fruits submitted by Koistinen’s defense team. The filing presents the defense’s version of events and argues that statements made after Koistinen’s arrest should be excluded from evidence because he allegedly was not advised of his Miranda rights, had invoked his right to counsel, and was questioned while in custody. The government has not yet responded to these allegations, and the court has not ruled on the motion.

Read the entire motion below: