United States Court of Appeals For the Eighth Circuit ___________________________ Nos. 18-2068, 18-2088, 18-2090 ___________________________ United States of America lllllllllllllllllllllPlaintiff - Appellee v. Gregorio Ramirez-Maldonado; Alejandro Llamas-Delgado; Erick Parra-Salazar lllllllllllllllllllllDefendants - Appellants ____________ Appeals from United States District Court for the District of Minnesota ____________ Submitted: March 12, 2019 Filed: June 26, 2019 ____________ Before GRUENDER, BENTON, and GRASZ, Circuit Judges. ____________ GRASZ, Circuit Judge. Alejandro Llamas-Delgado (“Llamas”) and Erick Parra-Salazar (“Parra”) appeal their convictions for drug trafficking crimes. Parra and another co-defendant, Gregorio Ramirez-Maldonado (“Ramirez”), appeal the sentences the district court1 imposed after trial. We affirm. I. Background In May 2017, law enforcement officials arrested Llamas, Ramirez, and Parra following an extensive investigation into a suspected drug conspiracy to distribute substantial quantities of methamphetamine and cocaine. Because both Llamas and Parra challenge the sufficiency of the evidence, many of the facts introduced at trial regarding that investigation are recounted below. A. Facts For purposes of this case, the investigation began in 2014 when the Drug Enforcement Administration (“DEA”) intercepted a transport truck in California that was hauling a 2005 Mini Cooper automobile. Earlier, Omar Ornelas-Garcia (“Ornelas”) and A.L., a confidential informant who testified at trial, had met Llamas at an auto body shop in southern California that had constructed hidden compartments in the Mini Cooper. A.L. later picked up the Mini Cooper after Ornelas told him that he had loaded it with 22 pounds of methamphetamine and seven or eight kilograms (15.4 or 17.6 pounds) of cocaine. A.L. met with a truck driver to load the Mini Cooper onto the transport truck and subsequently sent a text to Llamas to tell him the Mini Cooper was on its way. The DEA learned about the transport truck and set up a “controlled delivery” of the Mini Cooper. The DEA met the truck driver at a parking lot in Plymouth, Minnesota, unloaded the vehicle, parked it, and disabled it. The truck driver then called someone named “Oscar,” whom he had been told to call when he arrived. 1 The Honorable Joan N. Ericksen, United States District Judge for the District of Minnesota. -2- The DEA encountered Llamas during the controlled delivery of the Mini Cooper. Almost an hour after the truck driver’s phone call to “Oscar,” Llamas and a woman pulled into the parking lot. Llamas met with the truck driver, put California license plates on the Mini Cooper, and unsuccessfully tried to start it. Llamas eventually returned with several other people and a tow truck. They loaded the Mini Cooper on the tow truck and departed. The DEA did not arrest anyone but had local police seize the Mini Cooper from the tow truck. In September 2015, the DEA again saw Llamas when agents were at the Albertville Outlet Mall just west of the Twin Cities. Llamas sat on a park bench holding two cell phones. A short time later, Eric Winter drove into the parking lot. Llamas walked directly to Winter’s vehicle and got into the front passenger seat. ...
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