UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE TENTH CIRCUIT

STEPHEN DENNIS BACA, JR.,

Plaintiff - Appellant,

v.

THOMAS A. BENNETT,

Defendant - Appellee.

No. 01-1104

(D.C. No. 00-WY-920-CB)

(D. Colorado)

ORDER AND JUDGMENT*

Before SEYMOUR, McKAY, and MURPHY, Circuit Judges.

After examining the briefs and appellate record, this panel has determined unanimously that oral argument would not materially assist the determination of this appeal. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2); 10th Cir. R. 34.1(G). The case is therefore ordered submitted without oral argument.

Appellant Stephen Baca challenges the district court's decision to grant summary judgment to appellee Thomas Bennett on grounds of qualified immunity. We affirm.

In July 1996, a robbery was committed at Amoco service station in Arvada, Colorado. Witnesses described the participants as one white male, one Hispanic male, and one white female who drove the get-away vehicle, a gold-colored van with New Mexico plates. Bennett, an Arvada police officer, was assigned to investigate the robbery. Through research of the license plate and a subsequent witness identification, Bennett was able to identify William Earl Noble as the white male involved in the Colorado robbery. Additional investigation placed Bennett in contact with police in Bakersfield, California, who informed Bennett that Noble had robbed another convenience store in Bakersfield, using the same vehicle. There were two additional suspects in that robbery: Noble's wife, Carmelita Pacheco-Noble, and her sixteen-year-old son, Stephen Baca. The Bakersfield police told Bennett that Baca admitted to participating in the Colorado robbery.

Based on the above information, Bennett provided an affidavit supporting probable cause to arrest Baca for the Colorado robbery. Baca was extradited to Colorado and was taken into custody when he could not make bail. After three months, the district attorney decided to drop the charges against Baca because, among other reasons, Baca had already served three years in California, Baca's