Opinion
May 10, 2000.
Appeal from Judgment of Onondaga County Court, Burke, J. — Criminal Possession Controlled Substance, 4th Degree.
Judgment unanimously affirmed.
PRESENT: PIGOTT, JR., P. J., GREEN, WISNER AND SCUDDER, JJ.
Memorandum:
County Court properly denied the motion to suppress evidence seized from defendant when he was stopped for a curfew violation by parole officers with the assistance of a Syracuse police officer. We reject the contention of defendant that the stop was illegal in the absence of exigent circumstances because it was not conducted by his own parole officer ( see, People v. Van Buren, 198 A.D.2d 533, lv denied 83 N.Y.2d 811). Defendant further contends that the curfew violation was a pretext and that the parole officers were acting as agents of the police officer, who was searching for drugs. We disagree ( cf., People v. Mackie, 77 A.D.2d 778; People v. Candelaria, 63 A.D.2d 85). Defendant was stopped because he was suspected of violating his curfew. In any event, information supplied by the police officer provided a reasonable basis to believe that defendant was selling drugs, and the search "was substantially related to the performance of the parole officer's duty to detect and prevent parole violations" ( People v. Smith, 234 A.D.2d 1002, lv denied 89 N.Y.2d 988).