United States v. Dorothy Anderson

532 F. App'x 373
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
DecidedJuly 10, 2013
Docket12-4433
StatusUnpublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 532 F. App'x 373 (United States v. Dorothy Anderson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Dorothy Anderson, 532 F. App'x 373 (4th Cir. 2013).

Opinions

WILKINSON, Circuit Judge:

Defendant Dorothy Lee Anderson was convicted of twenty counts of various crimes for using stolen identities to fraudulently obtain federal income tax refunds. Anderson now challenges the jury’s guilty verdict on four of those counts, as well as the district court’s application of two sentencing enhancements. However, finding sufficient evidence to support the convictions and concluding that the district court did not err in applying either of the enhancements, we affirm.

I.

In late 2007, Anderson took steps to establish a tax preparation business under [375]*375the name of “DL Anderson Tax Service.” She applied to the IRS for authorization to electronically file tax returns and was issued an Electronic Filing Identification Number (“EFIN”) for her business and a Preparer’s Tax Identification Number (“PTIN”) for herself as a paid tax preparer. Anderson used the EFIN and PTIN throughout 2008 to submit returns for the 2007 tax year.

In February 2009, the IRS interviewed Anderson as part of an investigation into certain returns filed by her business putatively on behalf of paid clients. Each return in question indicated that the refund due was to be deposited into one of several bank accounts controlled by Anderson, and each named Anderson as a third-party designee authorized to receive private tax information relating to the filer. When asked about these returns, Anderson stated that her employee, Tamika Davis, prepared them, but an IRS agent assigned to the case later testified that he could find “no evidence of an existence of that person.” J.A.55.

On September 21, 2011, a federal grand jury in the District of South Carolina charged Anderson in a twenty-one count superseding indictment with nineteen counts of submitting false, fictitious, or fraudulent claims against the United States, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 287; one count of embezzling public money or property, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 641; and one count of aggravated identity theft, in ■violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1028A. The indictment alleged that Anderson stole the identities of nineteen individuals and used their personal information to file fraudulent tax returns, with refund payments routed to accounts under her control.

At trial, the government presented testimony by fourteen witnesses whose names appeared on tax returns corresponding to Counts 1, 2, 4-8, 11-14, and 16-18 of the indictment, each filed using Anderson’s EFIN and PTIN. The witnesses testified that they did not authorize Anderson to prepare the returns and that they did not receive any refund payments in connection with the filed returns. Moreover, they indicated that much of the personal information listed on the returns was incorrect.

The government also called seven other witnesses, among them Ronald Cooley, President and CEO of Brookland Federal Credit Union (“Brookland”); Russell Sciandra, an IRS Special Agent; and Tracy Trivison, General Manager of Receivables Management Corporation (“RMC”), Anderson’s former employer. Cooley testified that Anderson controlled multiple accounts at Brookland and identified certain deposits made by the United States Treasury into those accounts. Sciandra linked the Treasury deposit amounts to refunds claimed on tax returns filed using Anderson’s EFIN and PTIN. And Trivison testified that, while working for RMC, Anderson had access to the names, addresses, social security numbers, and dates of birth of some of the individuals whose tax returns were filed using Anderson’s EFIN and PTIN.

The jury found Anderson guilty on twenty of the twenty-one counts charged in the indictment. She was acquitted only on Count 10, a false claim charge linked to a tax return for which the refund was deposited into a separate bank account not referenced on any of the eighteen other returns. The individual whose name appeared on the return associated with Count 10 did not testify at trial.

In calculating Anderson’s Guidelines sentencing range, the Presentence Investigation Report (“PSR”) applied two enhancements now at issue in this appeal, one for the number of victims involved and another for the amount of loss implicated. The PSR reported that there were nine[376]*376teen victims of Anderson’s crimes, triggering a two-level enhancement pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 2Bl.l(b)(2), and that the intended loss amount was $437,822, triggering a fourteen-level enhancement pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 2B1.1(b)(1)(H). After accounting for these enhancements, the PSR arrived at a final Guidelines range of 65 to 75 months’ imprisonment.

Counsel for Anderson raised ten objections to the PSR, none of which challenged the application of the aforementioned sentencing enhancements and most of which were resolved prior to sentencing. Anderson herself also filed a pro se objection challenging the “entire” PSR, but her statement was directed primarily at the jury’s finding of guilt and not at the proposed Guidelines range. She did not raise any specific objection to either enhancement. At the sentencing hearing, the district court denied Anderson’s request for a variance, resolved the outstanding PSR objections — none of which affected the advisory Guidelines range — and sentenced Anderson to 75 months of incarceration. This appeal followed.

II.

Anderson first challenges the sufficiency of the evidence supporting the jury’s guilty verdict on four of her eighteen convictions for submitting false or fraudulent claims against the United States. Although Anderson preserved her objection on this issue, we note at the outset that the standard for overturning a jury verdict is a very difficult one to meet: a conviction will be reversed for insufficient evidence “only if no reasonable jury could have concluded beyond a reasonable doubt” that the defendant committed the charged crime. United States v. Sayles, 296 F.3d 219, 223 n. 1 (4th Cir.2002). On the other hand, if “substantial evidence” — that is, direct or circumstantial evidence “that a reasonable finder of fact could accept as adequate and sufficient to support a conclusion of a defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt” supports a 849, 862 (4th Cir.1996) (en banc); see also United States v. Stewart, 256 F.3d 231, 249 (4th Cir.2001). Put otherwise, only when the prosecution’s failure to prove its case is “clear” will the defendant prevail in challenging a jury’s guilty verdict. Burks v. United States, 437 U.S. 1, 17, 98 S.Ct. 2141, 57 L.Ed.2d 1 (1978).

Anderson specifically attacks her convictions on Counts 3, 9, 15, and 19, four counts for which the government did not present live witness testimony as to the fraudulent nature of the corresponding tax returns. Notwithstanding the jury’s guilty verdict, Anderson asserts that she is entitled to a judgment of acquittal because “there is a total absence of evidence” with respect to the challenged counts. Appellant’s Reply Br. 3. But her argument is unavailing because the prosecution did

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532 F. App'x 373, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-dorothy-anderson-ca4-2013.