United States v. Arnold

991 F. Supp. 2d 1307, 2014 WL 66754, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1574
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Georgia
DecidedJanuary 7, 2014
DocketNo. CR 213-26
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 991 F. Supp. 2d 1307 (United States v. Arnold) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Arnold, 991 F. Supp. 2d 1307, 2014 WL 66754, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1574 (S.D. Ga. 2014).

Opinion

ORDER

LISA GODBEY WOOD, Chief Judge.

Defendant Timothy Arnold has filed a Motion to Dismiss Due to Statute of Limitations. Dkt. Nos. 34, 48. After an independent and de novo review, the undersigned concurs with the Magistrate Judge’s Report and Recommendation, to which Defendant has objected. Dkt. Nos. 57, 79. The basis for Defendant’s objection is that the alleged conduct occurred outside the statute of limitations, and the crimes do not constitute continuing offenses — regardless of whether they were shadowed by an overarching scheme.1 See Dkt. No. 79, at 1-3.

I. Discussion

As discussed below, only one of the charged counts is a continuing offense, but the statutes of limitation for Counts 1 through 3 have been suspended under 18 U.S.C. § 3287. Moreover, the Indictment’s allegations of violations within the five-year limitations period would make dismissal premature.

A. Continuing Offenses

1. Count 1: Conversion Under 18 U.S.C. § 641

Count 1 of the Indictment alleges that Defendant converted more than $1,000 worth of United States property from January 2006 through November 2010. Dkt. No. 1, at 6. This offense, proscribed under 18 U.S.C. § 641, has a five-year statute of limitations. United States v. Trang Huydoan Phan, 754 F.Supp.2d 186, 188 (D.Mass.2010). Normally, such a period begins to run when each element of the crime has occurred and the crime is complete. Toussie v. United States, 397 U.S. 112, 115, 90 S.Ct. 858, 25 L.Ed.2d 156 (1970) (quoting Pendergast v. United States, 317 U.S. 412, 418, 63 S.Ct. 268, 87 L.Ed. 368 (1943)). However, an offense is continuing if the substantive offense statute’s language compels such a treatment, or if the nature of the crime involved is such that Congress must assuredly have intended that it be treated as a continuing one. Id.

[1310]*1310As to conversion under 18 U.S.C. § 641, courts are split on whether the underlying conduct may constitute a continuing offense. See Jeffrey R. Boles, Easing the Tension Between Statutes of Limitations and the Continuing Offense Doctrine, 7 Nw. J.L. & Soc. Pol’y 219, 239-48 (2012) (explaining the initial rejection of the doctrine’s application to embezzlement and later split among federal courts). Some have found that embezzlement or conversion under § 641 may constitute a continuing offense in certain circumstances. E.g., United States v. Smith, 373 F.3d 561, 567-68 (4th Cir.2004) (per curiam); United States v. George, No. CR11-213Z, 2011 WL 4559122, at *2 (W.D.Wash. Sept. 29, 2011); Trang Huydoan Phan, 754 F.Supp.2d at 190; United States v. Thompkins, No. L08CR65, 2008 WL 3200629, at *2 (W.D.N.C. Aug. 5, 2008); United States v, Gibson, No. 08-03057-01-CR-S-DGK, 2008 WL 4838226, at *3 (W.D.Mo. Nov. 6, 2008); United States v. Street, No. 3:07CR181TSL-JCS, 2008 WL 4372737, at *3 (S.D.Miss. Sept. 19, 2008).

Others have rejected such treatment, regardless of the underlying indictment’s language. E.g., United States v. Yashar, 166 F.3d 873, 876-880 (7th Cir.1999) (rejecting treatment of a similar embezzlement offense under 18 U.S.C. § 666 as a continuing offense); United States v. Silkowsky 32 F.3d 682, 689-90 (2d Cir.1994); United States v. Crary, No. CR 13-35-M-DLC, 2013 WL 6054607, at *3 (D.Mont. Nov. 15, 2013); United States v. Tackett, Crim. No. 11-15-ART, 2011 WL 4005347, at *4-6 (E.D.Ky. Sept. 8, 2011); United States v. Young, 694 F.Supp.2d 25, 29 (D.Me.2010); United States v. Sunia, 643 F.Supp.2d 51, 75 (D.D.C.2009); United States v. Pease, No. CR-07-757-PHX-DGC, 2008 WL 808683, at *3 (D.Ariz. Mar. 24, 2008); United States v. Aubrey, 53 F.Supp.2d 1355, 1355-56 (E.D.Tex.1999); United States v. Beard, 713 F.Supp. 285, 290-91 (S.D.Ind.1989).

As to Eleventh Circuit caselaw, nothing resolves whether embezzlement under § 641 is a continuing offense. Instead, the Eleventh Circuit’s application of the continuing-offense doctrine has been limited to classic manifestations of continuing offenses, such as conspiracy. See, e.g., United States v. Cruz, 805 F.2d 1464, 1477 (11th Cir.1986) (applying the doctrine to a conspiracy to address an evidentiary matter); United States v. Adams, 1 F.3d 1566, 1581-82 (11th Cir.1993) (same); United States v. Coia, 719 F.2d 1120, 1124-25 (11th Cir.1983) (applying the doctrine to a conspiracy to address a statute-of-limitations defense); United States v. Gonzalez, 921 F.2d 1530, 1547-48 (11th Cir.1991) (same); United States v. Harriston, 329 F.3d 779, 783 (11th Cir.2003) (per curiam) (same). Indeed, the Eleventh Circuit has noted the exceptional nature of the doctrine. See Cruz, 805 F.2d at 1477 n. 15 (“Unlike the continuing offense of conspiracy, most crimes occur during a brief period of time.”); United States v. Hassoun, No. 04-60001-CR, 2007 WL 4180844, at *7 (S.D.Fla. Nov. 20, 2007) (stating that the ordinary rule for the doctrine of continuing offenses is that it “should be applied in limited circumstances”). And, the Eleventh Circuit has invoked the rule of lenity and rejected the doctrine’s application where Congress intended to treat each execution of a crime as separate. United States v. Kramer, 73 F.3d 1067, 1072-73 n. 11 (11th Cir.1996) (reasoning that ambiguous criminal statutes should be construed in favor of the accused in concluding that “money laundering is not a continuing offense”); see also United States v. De La Mata, 266 F.3d 1275, 1289-90 (11th Cir.2001) (declining to treat bank fraud as a continuing offense because each actionable execution is a discrete violation); Hassoun, 2007 WL 4180844, at *7-8 (treating [1311]*1311the offense of providing material support to terrorists as a discrete offense).

After careful consideration, the Court declines to treat Count 1 as a continuing offense for the purpose of Defendant’s statute-of-limitations defense. Continuing offenses are “offenses which are not complete upon the first illegal act, but instead continue to be perpetrated over time.” United States v. Gilbert, 136 F.3d 1451, 1453 (11th Cir.1998).

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Bluebook (online)
991 F. Supp. 2d 1307, 2014 WL 66754, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1574, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-arnold-gasd-2014.