People v. Ortega CA1/5

Filed 3/28/24 P. v. Ortega CA1/5

NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for pur- poses of rule 8.1115.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

FIRST APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION FIVE

THE PEOPLE, A167133 Plaintiff and Respondent, v. (San Francisco City and County REINIERY ORTEGA, Super. Ct. Nos. SCN233174, CRI20009652) Defendant and Appellant.

Defendant Reiniery Ortega pled guilty to sale of fentanyl but contends the preliminary hearing magistrate erred in denying his motion to suppress evidence pursuant to Penal Code section 1538.5.1 We affirm.

BACKGROUND San Francisco Police Officer Cullen Roche was conducting surveillance of a high narcotics area when he noticed Ortega “loitering.” At one point, Officer Roche saw Ortega “pull out a package and select items and begin kind of sifting through” them. A few minutes later, Ortega approached a car and conversed with the driver. No physical exchange took place. Some time afterward, a pedestrian approached the same car and “exchange[d] an object in exchange for U.S. currency.” Officer Roche was not “100 percent certain[]” what the object was, but he

1 Undesignated statutory references are to the Penal Code. 1

suspected it was a narcotics sale. He did not direct any officers to stop or arrest those individuals.

Soon after, Officer Roche observed another pedestrian, Ricky Vedilago, approach Ortega. After appearing to engage in conversation and walking together, Ortega handed over a “small substance” to Vedilago in exchange for U.S. currency.

Officer Roche relayed a description of Vedilago to other officers, including Officer Wright. Vedilago was arrested, at which point Officer Wright informed Officer Roche that a “white crystalline substance” was found in Vedilago’s possession.

With this information, Officer Roche ordered the arrest of Ortega. A search incident to arrest uncovered several denominations of “crumpled up” bills as well as a cigarette pack that contained “a Ziploc bag of a white crystalline substance and another bag with small black objects in individual bindles.” These substances were determined to be methamphetamine and heroin. In contrast, the white crystalline substance found on Vedilago was determined to be fentanyl. No drug paraphernalia or fentanyl was found on Ortega.