No. 23-3370 ___________________________

United States of America

lllllllllllllllllllllPlaintiff - Appellee

v.

Eric Virrueta

lllllllllllllllllllllDefendant - Appellant ____________

Appeal from United States District Court for the District of South Dakota - Northern ____________

Submitted: June 14, 2024 Filed: November 15, 2024 ____________ Before LOKEN, ERICKSON, and GRASZ, Circuit Judges. ____________ LOKEN, Circuit Judge.

Eric Virrueta pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1), reserving the right to appeal the denial of his motion to suppress evidence, including methamphetamine and marijuana, found in a warrantless search of the vehicle he was driving after a traffic stop. Virrueta challenges the district court’s1 rulings that (i) the initial traffic stop was valid, (ii) the detaining officer did not impermissibly extend the traffic stop, and (iii) the ensuing search of the vehicle was supported by probable cause to believe it contained evidence of a crime and was permissible based on the consent of Virrueta’s parole agent. Reviewing the district court’s factual findings for clear error and its legal conclusions de novo, we uphold these rulings and therefore affirm. See United States v. Ford, 888 F.3d 922, 925 (8th Cir. 2018) (standard of review).

I. Background

Magistrate Judge Moreno held an evidentiary hearing on Virrueta’s motion to suppress. The government presented testimony by arresting officer Ryan Fischer, a Corporal in the Watertown Police Department with fourteen years’ experience in law enforcement, and by Kayla Oelkers, a parole agent for the State of South Dakota with eight years’ experience who was assigned to supervise Virrueta’s parole. Judge Moreno summarized their testimony at length in his Report and Recommendation that the motion be denied. In overruling Virrueta’s objections to the Report and Recommendation, District Judge Kornmann stated, “[t]he magistrate obviously credited [Corporal Fischer’s] testimony,” adopted the Report and Recommendation, and denied the motion to suppress. The following summary is based on hearing testimony credited by the district court.

Corporal Fischer testified that on June 12, 2022, he was contacted by off-duty Detective Taylor Martens who reported that he had observed a female and an unknown Hispanic male attempt to send a money order at an area Walgreens, which Martens considered suspicious. Fischer knew that the female had “an extensive

1 The Honorable Charles B. Kornmann, United States District Judge for the District of South Dakota, adopting the Report and Recommendation of the Honorable Mark A. Moreno, United States Magistrate Judge for the District of South Dakota.

-2- history with illegal substances,” so he searched the Walgreens area for her white Cadillac car but did not find it. That evening, Fischer drove to her residence and found her vehicle parked alongside a red Pontiac Grand Prix. Driving through the apartment complex parking lot to get the Grand Prix’s license plate number, Fischer saw the woman and an unknown Hispanic male enter her apartment. Fischer checked the Grand Prix license plate number, learning that the vehicle’s registered owner was a woman with the last name Virrueta, later found to be Virrueta’s mother. Searching that name in Watertown’s police database, Fischer found a booking photo and physical description th