United States Court of Appeals For the Eighth Circuit ___________________________ No. 18-3123 ___________________________ United States of America Plaintiff - Appellee v. Misael Saqueo Lopez-Tubac Defendant - Appellant ____________ Appeal from United States District Court for the Northern District of Iowa - Ft. Dodge ____________ Submitted: September 27, 2019 Filed: December 6, 2019 ____________ Before GRUENDER, BENTON, and SHEPHERD, Circuit Judges. ____________ GRUENDER, Circuit Judge. Misael Saqueo Lopez-Tubac entered a conditional guilty plea to one count of unlawful use of identification documents in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1546(a). Lopez- Tubac now appeals his conviction, arguing that the district court 1 erred in denying his motion to suppress evidence. We affirm. I. In January 2017, authorities in Bremer County, Iowa alerted Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) Deportation Officer Bryce Callison that they had arrested an alien for driving while under the influence. The authorities had released the alien but suspected he may be illegally present in the United States. As part of a subsequent investigation, Officer Callison learned that the suspect had been removed from the United States to Mexico in 2011. He also learned that the car the suspect was driving at the time of arrest was not registered to him but instead to a female who resided at 537 Montero Drive, an address that corresponded to a mobile home park in Waterloo, Iowa. Over the next sixteen months, Callison attempted to locate the suspect. Callison found a description of the suspect in his arrest record, including that he had brown eyes, dark brown hair, stood at approximately 5’3”, and weighed roughly 187 pounds. Callison also obtained a photograph of the suspect taken after his 2011 arrest. He then contacted the manager of the mobile home park, who, after viewing the photograph of the suspect, verified that he lived at 537 Montero Drive—the address the suspect provided at the time of his January 2017 arrest. Armed with this information, Callison conducted periodic surveillance of the residence, observing the property six to eight times between February 2017 and May 2018. In March 2018, he observed the vehicle associated with the suspect at the residence. While surveilling the property, Callison also observed several Hispanic males but none who looked like the suspect. 1 The Honorable Leonard T. Strand, Chief Judge, United States District Court for the Northern District of Iowa, adopting the report and recommendation of the Honorable C.J. Williams, Chief Magistrate Judge, United States District Court for the Northern District of Iowa. -2- On the morning of May 8, 2018, Officer Callison again conducted surveillance outside the suspect’s residence. There, he observed Lopez-Tubac emerge from between 537 Montero Drive and 541 Montero Drive and enter the passenger side of a vehicle stopped nearby. Callison testified that Lopez-Tubac passed within thirty feet of him and that he was able to observe him for ten to fifteen seconds. From his viewpoint in his car, Callison believed Lopez-Tubac matched the picture of the suspect. After following the vehicle for ten minutes, Callison initiated an ...
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