1The Honorable Thomas M. Shanahan, United States District Judge for the

District of Nebraska.

United States Court of Appeals

FOR THE EIGHTH CIRCUIT

___________

No. 99-4024

___________

United States of America, *

*

Appellee, *

* Appeal from the United States

v. * District Court for the

* District of Nebraska

Vicente Marchena-Borjas, *

* [TO BE PUBLISHED]

Appellant. *

___________

Submitted: March 16, 2000

Filed: April 5, 2000

___________

Before McMILLIAN, FLOYD R. GIBSON, and MORRIS SHEPPARD ARNOLD,

Circuit Judges.

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PER CURIAM.

Vicente Marchena-Borjas appeals from a final judgment entered in the United

States District Court1 for the District of Nebraska upon his conditional guilty plea to

one count of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute

methamphetamine, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 846. See United States v. MarchenaBorjas, No. 8:98CR137-1 (D. Neb. Nov. 1, 1999). For reversal, Marchena-Borjas
2The Honorable Kathleen A. Jaudzemis, United States Magistrate Judge for the

District of Nebraska.

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argues that the district court erred in denying his motion to suppress evidence obtained

as a result of his warrantless arrest and the subsequent warrantless search of the vehicle

in which he had been a passenger. For the reasons stated below, we affirm.

Marchena-Borjas was indicted on June 18, 1998, on one count of conspiracy to

distribute and possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine. He filed a motion

to suppress, arguing that he was arrested and the vehicle was searched without any

probable cause and in the absence of a valid search or arrest warrant. On October 5,

and November 10, 1998, suppression hearings were held before a magistrate judge2 on

this motion, as well as other motions filed by his co-defendant, Joel Barone-Hermosillo.

The magistrate judge also permitted post-hearing oral arguments on the motions on

March 12, 1999. Witnesses testifying at the suppression hearing included six officers

from city and county police departments in the Omaha, Nebraska, area as well as one

special agent of the United States Drug Enforcement Administration. Based upon the

evidence presented, the magistrate judge issued a report and recommendation

containing the following findings of fact. See id. at 2-12 (Apr. 28, 1999) ("Report and

Recommendation").

On the early afternoon of May 8, 1998, a confidential informant reported to

Omaha police officers that a Hispanic male named "Vicente" was in possession of

methamphetamine that day at a certain trailer court in Bellevue, Nebraska (later

identified as 1513 Fort Crook Road, Trailer #1). The confidential informant further

stated that, at approximately 8:00 p.m., Vicente would deliver the methamphetamine,

driving a silver Oldsmobile mini-van with Nebraska license plates numbered

"18-U672" from the Bellevue trailer court to the parking lot of a grocery store on the

northeast corner of 36th and Q Streets in Omaha. 
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Based on this information, local officers set up surveillance at the Bellevue trailer

court. At 7:45 p.m., two men with dark hair and dark complexions were observed

leaving Trailer #1 and getting into a silver Oldsmobile mini-van with license plates

numbered "18-U672." The mini-van was under intermittent surveillance as it traveled

from the trailer court to the parking lot at 36th and Q Streets. Officers did not observe

the mini-van commit any traffic violations.

After the mini-van pulled into the parking lot, the driver and passenger exited.

Surveillance officers who were waiting at the lot immediately pulled their own vehicle

behind the mini-van and exited with their weapons drawn. The driver (later identified

as Barone-Hermosillo) was detained and handcuffed immediately after exiting the van.

The passenger (later identified as Marchena-Borjas) wandered around the front of the

parking lot and then walked back toward the van. Officers detained and handcuffed

him after he was identified by other officers as the van's other occupant. After

searching the van's interior and finding no contraband, the officers looked under the

hood of the vehicle and found a plastic grocery bag containing two one-pound bundles

of methamphetamine stuffed into the engine compartment on the driver's side.

The magistrate judge concluded that the officers had probable cause to arrest

Marchena-Borjas and to search the vehicle in which he was a passenger. The

magistrate judge found probable cause for the arrest given the reliability of the

confidential informant, the specificity of detail provided by the informant, and the

officers' independent verification and corroboration of the informant's predictions of

future activity, even though certain details related to otherwise "innocent" behavior.

See id. at 13-15. The magistrate judge also determined that, under the totality of the

circumstances, probable cause existed to justify the search of the entire van (including

the engine compartment) under the "automobile exception" to the Fourth Amendment.

See id. at 16-19. The magistrate judge recommended that Marchena-Borjas's motion

to suppress be denied. See id. at 19, 21.
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Marchena-Borjas filed objections to the magistrate judge's report and

recommendation. After a de novo review of the record, including the transcripts of the

suppression hearings and the post-hearing oral arguments, the district court accepted

the magistrate judge's report and recommendation in its entirety and denied MarchenaBorjas's motion to suppress. See id. at 1-2 (June 10, 1999). This appeal followed.

We have carefully reviewed the parties' arguments and the record on appeal,

including the transcript of the suppression hearings, and determine that MarchenaBorjas' arguments are without merit. The historical reliability of the confidential

informant, his provision of descriptive information not easily discoverable, and the

independent corroboration of his information by investigating officers together

established probable cause for Marchena-Borjas's arrest. See Draper v. United States,

358 U.S. 307, 313 (1959); United States v. Brown, 49 F.3d 1346, 1349 (8th Cir. 1995)

(Brown) (noting that corroboration of "certain aspects of [informant's] prediction (the

innocent behavior) increases the probability that other aspects of his prediction (the

criminal behavior) are also correct."). Moreover, although the search of the van and

its engine compartment did not fall within the scope of a search incident to arrest, see

New York v. Belton, 453 U.S. 454, 460 n.4 (1981), the facts that created probable

cause to arrest Marchena-Borjas "create[d] with equal force probable cause to believe

that the [vehicle] contained" methamphetamine. Brown, 49 F.3d at 1350. The

identification of Marchena-Borjas as "Vicente" prior to the search of the van

corroborated yet another of the tip's details and further supported probable cause for

a search of the entire vehicle under the totality of the circumstances. See Transcript of

Suppression Hearing at 70-73 (Nov. 10, 1998); Report and Recommendation at 17; see

also United States v. Thompson, 906 F.2d 1292, 1297-98 (8th Cir. 1990) (finding

probable cause under totality of circumstances for search of car trunk).
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We hold that the district court did not err in denying Marchena-Borjas's motion

to suppress. The judgment of the district court is affirmed. See 8th Cir. R. 47B.

A true copy.

Attest:

 CLERK, U.S. COURT OF APPEALS, EIGHTH CIRCUIT.