U.S.A. v. Cabrera-Reynoso, CABRERA-REYNOS
| Decision Date | 20 October 1999 |
| Docket Number | APPELLANT,CABRERA-REYNOS,No. 99-2465,99-2465 |
| Citation | 195 F.3d 1029 |
| Parties | (8th Cir. 1999) UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, APPELLEE, v. ORBELIN Submitted: |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit |
Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota.
Before Bowman, Ross, and Murphy, Circuit Judges.
Orbelin Cabrera-Reynoso pled guilty to the distribution of cocaine in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1) (1994), but reserved the right to appeal the denial of his motion to suppress evidence obtained as a result of his arrest. On appeal, Cabrera-Reynoso contends that the police arrested him without probable cause. We affirm.
Cabrera-Reynoso's arrest arose from his connection to 2116 Portland Avenue South in Minneapolis and a series of undercover cocaine transactions between Deputy David Bruce and Elvis Gama-Leon in August 1998. Prior to the final transaction on August 25, surveillance officers observed Gama-Leon drive to and enter 2116 Portland at 1:20 p.m. Ten minutes later, Gama-Leon left the building carrying a brown paper bag. He then drove directly to a local restaurant and delivered seventeen ounces of cocaine in a brown paper bag to Deputy Bruce. Naturally, the officers suspected that Gama-Leon obtained the cocaine at 2116 Portland.
August 25 was not the first time that Gama-Leon appeared to contact someone at 2116 Portland. On August 5 and 11, pen-register records show phone calls from Gama-Leon's residence to 2116 Portland shortly after Deputy Bruce's informant called Gama-Leon to arrange drug purchases. On August 17, Gama-Leon drove to 2116 Portland shortly after receiving another call from the informant and shortly before delivering cocaine to Deputy Bruce. Gama-Leon also called other numbers, including a pager several times, and contacted other locations during the course of these transactions. Nevertheless, suspicion focused on 2116 Portland as being the source of Gama-Leon's supply of cocaine.
Following Gama-Leon's arrest on August 25, surveillance officers stopped a car observed departing from 2116 Portland. The occupants, Inocente Villa-Gomez and her juvenile son Miguel Maldonado, both lived at 2116 Portland. Deputy Jeffrey Burchett showed them a picture of Gama-Leon and asked if they knew him. Maldonado responded that Gama-Leon had been to their apartment around 1:00 p.m. that day and had visited with two men named Reynoso. Maldonado indicated that the Reynosos were his mother's boyfriend and the boyfriend's nephew. When asked the location of the Reynosos, Maldonado responded that they were out playing volleyball and that they were driving a red Chrysler Laser.1
Deputy Burchett alerted officers at 2116 Portland to stop the car should they see it. He soon received a report from surveillance officers that a red Chrysler Laser, license number 233 JXG, was spotted driving southbound at 2116 Portland Avenue carrying two Hispanic males. After hearing the report, Maldonado told Deputy Burchett either "That's them" or "Yes, that is the car." Tr. at 71, 89. Deputy Burchett then told the surveillance officers to stop the vehicle. Cabrera-Reynoso and his uncle were in the car, and Cabrera-Reynoso's driver's license indicated that he lived at 2116 Portland. The officers seized Cabrera-Reynoso's pager and discovered that it was the same pager that Gama-Leon had called several times during the course of the investigation. Later, the officers were able to match Cabrera-Reynoso's fingerprints to prints found on individual plastic bags of cocaine sold to Deputy Bruce. Cabrera-Reynoso's indictment and guilty plea soon followed.
Cabrera-Reynoso challenges the Conclusion of the District Court2 that probable cause existed for his warrantless arrest. We review findings of historical fact made by the District Court for clear error,3 but review the ultimate question of probable cause to arrest de novo. See Ornelas v. United States, 517 U.S. 690, 699 (1996); United States v. McClain, 171 F.3d 1168, 1170 (8th Cir. 1999). "Probable cause exists if the facts and circumstances within the arresting officer's knowledge were sufficient to warrant a prudent person's belief that the suspect had committed or was committing an offense." United States v. Magness, 69 F.3d 872, 874 (8th Cir. 1995) (citing Beck v. Ohio, 379 U.S. 89, 91 (1964)).
We believe that Deputy Burchett had probable cause to order the stop of the red Chrysler Laser and thus the warrantless arrest of Cabrera-Reynoso. First, the telephone calls and especially Gama-Leon's pickup of the brown paper bag on August 25 were sufficient to warrant the belief that someone at 2116 Portland supplied Gama-Leon with cocaine. At the time of the stop, Deputy Burchett knew that Gama-Leon regularly made contact with someone at...
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