FILED
NOT FOR PUBLICATION JUL 14 2011
MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS U .S. C O U R T OF APPE ALS
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, No. 09-10482
Plaintiff - Appellee, D.C. No. 2:08-cr-00256-RLH-
PAL-1
v.
MEMORANDUM *
ELVERIA RODRIGUEZ-QUIROS,
Defendant - Appellant.
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the District of Nevada
Roger L. Hunt, District Judge, Presiding
Submitted July 12, 2011 **
San Francisco, California
Before: SILVERMAN and GRABER, Circuit Judges, and WRIGHT, District
Judge.***
*
This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent
except as provided by 9th Cir. R. 36-3.
**
The panel unanimously concludes this case is suitable for decision
without oral argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2).
***
The Honorable Otis D. Wright, II, United States District Judge for the
Central District of California, sitting by designation.
Defendant Elveria Rodriguez-Quiros appeals the district court’s denial of her
motion to suppress the drugs found in her car’s bumper. We have jurisdiction
pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 and affirm.
The record does not support the defendant’s claim that the district judge
improperly rejected the magistrate judge’s factual findings. The district judge
adopted the magistrate judge’s findings, but reached a different legal conclusion
regarding probable cause.
Having obtained the defendant’s lawful consent to search the vehicle, the
troopers were within their rights to inspect and probe a pre-existing hole in the
bumper. Upon discovering white powder and observing what looked like tape, the
troopers had probable cause to believe that the normally empty bumper contained
drugs. See United States v. Ewing, 638 F.3d 1226, 1231 (9th Cir. 2011).
AFFIRMED.
2