Criminal Defense Lawyers

Federal Agents Are Parked Outside My House

You looked out the window and saw them. An unmarked car. Two people sitting inside, not going anywhere. They’ve been there for hours. Maybe days. Maybe you’ve noticed the same car in different spots around your neighborhood. Maybe someone pointed out that a vehicle has been following you. Here’s the first thing you need to understand: the question isn’t “why are they watching me.” The question is “how long have they been watching when I didn’t notice.” By the time federal surveillance becomes visible, the investigation has usually been running for months. What your seeing now is probably not the beginning. Its closer to the end.

Welcome to Spodek Law Group. We handle federal criminal defense cases regularly, including cases were clients first realize theyre under investigation by noticing surveillance outside there home. The second thing you need to understand is this: if agents want you to see them, thats worse then if they were trying to hide. Visible surveillance often means theyre ready to move. They might be waiting for a warrant to be signed. They might be hoping you’ll panic and do something incriminating. The fact that you can see them is not reassuring. Its a warning sign.

Heres something that should reframe how you think about this moment. Federal investigations dont start with agents sitting outside your house. They start with tips, financial analysis, informants, subpoenas, and electronic surveillance. By the time physical surveillance happens, federal agents have probly already reviewed your bank records, monitored your communications, and interviewed people who know you. The agents outside your house arnt gathering evidence. Theyre watching to see what you do now that they have it.

The Legal Reality of Public Surveillance

Heres the paradox that most people find impossible to accept. You can see federal agents watching your home – but you have no legal right to make them stop.

The Fourth Amendment protects you from unreasonable searches and seizures. It requires warrants for searches of your home, your car, your person. But surveillance from public property – watching your house from a public street, photographing you as you come and go, sitting in a car on a public road – requires no warrant at all. Your privacy rights end at your door. What happens outside, in view of anyone, is not protected.

This means the agents watching you are doing nothing illegal. They can sit outside your house all day. They can take pictures. They can note who visits you, when you leave, what car you drive, who you talk to. None of that requires judicial authorization. None of it violates your rights. The Fourth Amendment protects the inside of your home – not the view of it from the street.

Courts have struggled with how far this extends. In United States v. Hay, federal agents installed a pole camera pointed at someones home and recorded continuosly for nearly ten weeks. The legal question of wheather that constitutes a search remains unsettled. But traditional surveillance – agents in cars watching your house – is completly legal and happens every day.

Why They Want You to See Them

Heres something critical to understand about visible surveillance. If federal agents are sitting outside your house in an obvious way, they probly want you to notice.

There are two reasons for this. First, the investigation might be reaching its conclusion. Agents have gathered there evidence. Theyre waiting for a warrant or an indictment to be signed. The surveillance is logistical – making sure youre home when they come to arrest you. This is not good news. This means the endgame is approaching.

Second, visible surveillance can be a pressure tactic. Federal investigators know that people under observation often make mistakes. They panic. They try to destroy evidence. They contact associates to coordinate stories. They flee. Every one of those actions creates additional evidence – and potentialy additional charges. By showing themselves, agents are testing wheather youll incriminate yourself.

Heres the hidden connection nobody explains. The investigation you never saw – the months of electronic monitoring, financial analysis, and witness interviews – is probably complete. The visible surveillance is the final phase. Agents arnt looking for evidence anymore. Theyre watching to see if youll give them more.

What You Absolutly Cannot Do

Heres what happens when people realize theyre under federal surveillance. They panic. And panicking leads to decisions that make everything worse.

Do NOT try to flee. If you pack a bag and drive to the airport, youre being watched. If you try to cross a border, youre being watched. Flight creates a presumption of guilt. It eliminates any chance of bail. It adds charges. And federal agents have resources to find you almost anywhere. Running makes your situation dramatically worse.

Do NOT try to destroy evidence. Heres the uncomfortable truth: by the time surveillance becomes visible, agents have already preserved evidence from multiple sources. Your emails exist on servers. Your texts exist on carrier systems. Your financial records exist at banks. Anything you try to destroy, they probly already have. And the act of destruction creates new charges – obstruction, tampering, destruction of evidence. Destroying things you think are incriminating proves consciousness of guilt.

Do NOT contact associates to discuss the situation. Your phones are potentialy monitored. If you call your business partner to coordinate a story, that conversation is evidence of witness tampering. If you warn someone that federal agents are watching, thats obstruction. Every panicked communication makes your legal situation worse.

Do NOT post anything on social media. Not about the surveillance. Not about your life. Not about anything. Federal agents will review your social media history. Prosecutors will use posts to establish timeline, intent, and awareness. Anything you post now becomes evidence.

The Investigation You Never Saw

Heres what was happening while you went about your daily life not knowing anyone was watching.

Federal investigations begin long before physical surveillance. They start with tips, referrals from other agencies, suspicious activity reports from banks, or patterns identified by data analysis. Investigators open a preliminary inquiry, gather documents, issue subpoenas, and build a theory of the case. Only after months of this work does physical surveillance even begin.

Your financial records have probly been subpoenaed. Federal agents can access bank records, credit card statements, and financial transactions through grand jury subpoenas. You would never have been notified. The records were turned over without your knowledge.

Your communications may have been monitored. Electronic surveillance – wiretaps, email monitoring, GPS tracking – requires judicial authorization. But that authorization is granted without notice to the target. If a judge signed a surveillance order months ago, your phone calls and emails have been captured and analyzed. You had no idea.

People around you may have been interviewed. Coworkers. Neighbors. Family members. Business associates. Federal agents interview witnesses quietly, often without telling the target. People you trust might have already spoken to investigators about you. Some of them might be cooperating.

The visible surveillance isnt the beginning of the investigation. Its the sign that investigators have what they need and are preparing to act.

The 90% Conviction Rate Reality

Heres an uncomfortable truth about federal prosecutions. The federal conviction rate exceeds 90%. Federal prosecutors dont bring cases they expect to lose.

Think about what that means. By the time federal agents are visibly watching your house, prosecutors have probly reviewed the evidence and concluded theyre ready to charge. They dont deploy surveillance resources speculativly. They dont sit outside houses hoping something will happen. If theyre watching you, they beleive they have enough to convict you.

This dosent mean your situation is hopeless. Cases get dismissed. Charges get reduced. Evidence gets suppressed. Skilled attorneys find weaknesses in government cases. But it does mean you should not assume this will simply go away if you act normal and wait it out. The federal government dosent invest months in an investigation and then walk away.

The standard defense strategy of “deny everything and make them prove it” works poorly in federal court. Federal prosecutors dont charge people they cant prove guilty. If you wait until arrest to engage an attorney, youve lost months of opportunity to intervene before charges are filed.

What Happens If You Confront Them

Heres what happens if you walk outside and approach the agents watching your house.

You can do this. Its not illegal. You can ask them who they are, why theyre there, and what they want. But heres the irony: confronting them tells them something they might not have known – that youre aware of the surveillance. If you were supposed to notice them, your reaction confirms there strategy is working. If you werent supposed to notice them, youve just revealed your awareness.

They dont have to answer your questions. Federal agents conducting surveillance have no obligation to identify themselves, explain there purpose, or respond to you at all. They might give you generic answers. They might ignore you completly. They might try to engage you in conversation to gather more information.

And heres the consequence cascade you need to understand. If you confront them aggressivly, you confirm emotional volatility. If you demand they leave, you confirm awareness and concern. If you ask what they want, they might ask you questions in return – and anything you say can be used against you. If you lie to them about anything, youve committed a federal crime under 18 U.S.C. § 1001, punishable by up to five years in prison.

The safest response is no response. Note what you see. Document it. Take pictures if you want. Then go back inside and call an attorney.

The Three Categories You Might Be In

Heres something your attorney will want to determine as quickly as possible. In federal investigations, people fall into three categories, and which one applies to you changes everything.

Witness means the government beleives you observed something relevant to there investigation. You havent done anything wrong – they just want information from you. Witnesses have the least exposure. But a witness can become a subject or target as the investigation develops.

Subject means your conduct is within the scope of the investigation. The government hasnt decided wheather to charge you. Your in a gray zone. Many subjects are never charged. Others become targets as evidence accumulates. Subject status can shift in either direction.

Target means the government has substantial evidence linking you to criminal activity. Targets are generaly prosecuted. If your a target, the investigation has essentialy concluded that you probly committed a crime – theyre just building the strongest possible case before indictment.

The visible surveillance suggests your atleast a subject, and probly a target. Federal agents dont dedicate surveillance resources to watch witnesses. If theyre parked outside your house, they beleive youre connected to criminal activity. Your attorney can sometimes contact the government and learn your status – and that information is critical for determining strategy.

Why the Timeline Matters More Than You Think

Heres something about federal investigations that most people dont understand. The clock is already running – and youve already lost time you didnt know you were losing.

Federal prosecutors operate under statutes of limitations – usually five years for most federal crimes. But within that window, they have no time pressure. They can investigate for months. Years. However long it takes to build a case they beleive is unbeatable. The investigation running outside your house has been proceeding at there pace, not yours.

Think about what that means. While you were going to work, living your life, assuming everything was normal, federal agents were gathering evidence. They were building a timeline. They were identifying witnesses. They were documenting patterns. They had months of preparation. You have… however much time remains before they act.

And heres the uncomfortable truth about that timeline. Once visible surveillance appears, the endgame is often close. Days. Maybe weeks. Indictments can be returned without warning. Arrest warrants can be executed any time. The investigation has moved from passive evidence-gathering to active surveillance – the phase right before action.

This is why waiting is dangerous. Every day you dont have legal counsel is a day the government moves forward while you stand still. Every week without a defense strategy is a week closer to the moment when choices narrow dramaticaly.

The Mistakes That Will Destroy Your Case

Heres what people do that makes federal prosecutions easier.

They talk. To the agents outside. To friends who ask whats going on. To family members. To anyone who will listen. Every conversation is potentialy monitored. Every statement can be used. Federal agents are trained to elicit information through casual conversation. Anything you say – even if you think your explaining your innocence – becomes evidence.

They google their situation. “Am I under federal investigation” – your search history is available through subpoena. “How to know if FBI is watching you” – recorded. “What to do if federal agents outside house” – documented. Even this search that led you here might be part of the record prosecutors eventually see.

They try to outwit the investigation. They use burner phones (investigators trace purchases). They switch to encrypted messaging (metadata still exists). They have conversations in person (assuming no surveillance). Federal investigative resources are vast. Ordinary people dont have the skills or tools to evade federal monitoring. Attempts to do so create evidence of consciousness of guilt.

They do nothing. The worst mistake of all is assuming this will go away. It wont. Federal investigations dont disappear. Visible surveillance means the investigation is advancing. Doing nothing means losing time that could be spent preparing your defense.

The Electronic Surveillance You Cant See

Heres something about modern federal investigations that should keep you up at night. The agents outside your house are the surveillance you can see. The electronic surveillance you cant see is probly much more extensive.

Your phones may be monitored. Federal agents can obtain wiretap authorization from a judge without notifying you. If a warrant was signed months ago, every call youve made and received has been recorded. Every text message captured. The surveillance continues 24 hours a day, and you have no way to know its happening.

Your emails are available. Under the Stored Communications Act, federal agents can subpoena email records from your provider. Gmail, Yahoo, your company email – all accessible. Older emails (more then 180 days) can be obtained without even notifying you. Everything youve written is potentialy in the governments hands.

Your location is tracked. Cell phones constantly communicate with towers, creating location data that federal agents can access. The Supreme Court ruled in Carpenter v. United States that historical cell-site location information requires a warrant – but if they got that warrant, they know everywhere youve been.

Your financial records are already obtained. Grand jury subpoenas for bank records require no notice to the account holder. Your deposits, withdrawals, wire transfers, and transactions have been analyzed. Patterns identified. Suspicious activity flagged. All without your knowledge.

The agents parked outside are just the visible tip of an invisible iceberg. The electronic surveillance, the document subpoenas, the witness interviews – all of that has been happening in the background. By the time surveillance becomes visible, the investigation is much larger then what you can see from your window.

What You Should Do Right Now

If federal agents are parked outside your house, heres exactly what you should do:

Document what your seeing. Take pictures of the vehicles. Note license plates if visible. Record times, dates, locations. This documentation may become relevant later if there are questions about the scope or duration of surveillance.

Do NOT approach the agents or try to communicate with them. Nothing you say helps you. Everything you say potentially hurts you. Resist the urge to demand answers or confront them.

Contact a federal criminal defense attorney immediatly. Not tomorrow. Not when something happens. Now. A federal defense attorney can contact the government to determine your status – wheather your a witness, subject, or target. An attorney can begin preparing your defense before charges are filed. An attorney can advise you on what to do and what not to do during this critical period.

Do NOT discuss the surveillance with anyone except your attorney. Not your spouse. Not your business partner. Not your friends. Anyone you talk to can be compelled to testify about what you said. Only communications with your attorney are protected.

Assume everything is monitored. Your phone. Your email. Your text messages. Your location. Act accordingly. Dont say or write anything you wouldnt want a prosecutor to read aloud in court.

Todd Spodek tells every client in this situation the same thing: the appearance of visible surveillance means the investigation is serious and probably advancing toward its conclusion. The time to prepare a defense is now – not after an arrest happens.

Call Spodek Law Group at 212-300-5196. Before you talk to anyone. Before you do anything that makes your situation worse. Before the agents outside your house knock on your door.

They are watching for a reason. What you do next matters more then anything youve done before.