United States v. Evans

216 F. App'x 268
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Third Circuit
DecidedFebruary 16, 2007
Docket05-4511
StatusUnpublished

This text of 216 F. App'x 268 (United States v. Evans) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Third 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. Evans, 216 F. App'x 268 (3d Cir. 2007).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

RENDELL, Circuit Judge.

Darryl Evans challenges the sentence imposed for his role in a scheme to defraud the City of Philadelphia that involved ordering items not authorized under various supply contracts. A vendor would supply items requested by members of the City’s Mounted Police (though the items were not authorized under the contracts), then bill the City for items which were never delivered, adding a 20% markup for itself. Evans was charged with mail and wire fraud in a 12-count indictment; he was convicted of four of the counts (one of which was a wire fraud count). The District Court calculated Evans’s sentencing range under the Guidelines to be 10-16 months and sentenced Evans to six months’ imprisonment with a three-year term of supervised release including six-months’ home confinement. The District Court also imposed restitution of $8,879.99 (the value of the items the City received), as well as a $300.00 fine and a $400.00 special assessment.

After our Court affirmed the conviction and remanded for re-sentencing in light of United States v. Booker, 543 U.S. 220, 125 S.Ct. 738, 160 L.Ed.2d 621 (2005), the District Court imposed the identical sentence. The District Court refused to hear additional testimony from Evans regarding his lack of criminal intent, and applied a two-point enhancement for obstruction of justice plus an additional two-point enhancement because Evans held a position of trust. The District Court also ordered restitution based upon the value of all items that were purchased through the scheme, as set forth in the four counts of conviction. Evans challenges each of these aspects of his re-sentencing. We will affirm the sentence, the fine, and the special assessment, as the challenges to them are without merit. 1 We will remand to the District Court for clarification as to the restitution amount.

DISCUSSION

Evans was the Commanding Officer of the Mounted Unit of the Philadelphia Po *271 lice Department. The City of Philadelphia contracted with an outside vendor to supply tools and stable supplies to the Mounted Unit, and the contracts authorized purchase of specific items at specific prices. The testimony at trial established that several Mounted Unit employees had ordered and received items not permitted under the contracts, knowing that the vendor fraudulently billed the City for these purchases by means of a dual invoicing system. Under this scheme, the vendor would provide unauthorized materials to persons working the Mounted Unit. The vendor would then submit invoices to the City’s Finance Department for payment, with these invoices listing items that were authorized under the contracts (but which had never actually been delivered). Evans had the authority to approve or decline requests made to the vendor. After the scheme was presented to him by another employee, Evans began to order unapproved items, such as a computer system, for his office. Another employee, Casimir Lutz, testified that, at the direction of Evans, he ordered a number of unauthorized items, including a computer system, printers, a fax machine, and law enforcement flashing lights.

Evans testified at trial in his defense and acknowledged ordering certain items and not following proper procedure, but he denied knowledge of falsified invoices and any criminal intent on his part. He claimed that he expected that at most he would be reprimanded for obtaining work equipment unauthorized under the contracts. App. 437, 448. However, during the investigation by the Police Department’s Anti-Corruption Division, Evans lied about the origin of certain items and about his purchases. Moreover, there was some evidence that he encouraged others to lie when questioned and urged employees who received such items to get rid of them.

On remand for re-sentencing, the District Court exercised its discretion at the re-sentencing not to take additional evidence. See Fed.R.Crim.P. 32(i)(2) (“The court may permit the parties to introduce evidence on the objections [to an anticipated sentence].”); United States v. Sienkowski 359 F.3d 463 (7th Cir.2004). Evans contends on appeal that he should have been permitted to give additional testimony as to his state of mind because under the obstruction of justice enhancement the accused must have willfully impeded an investigation. At the original sentencing, there was extensive argument and evidence presented regarding Evans’ objections to the Presentence Report. At the re-sentencing, Evans made the same objections that he had originally made, and as the remand was for Booker purposes only, the District Court found that the existing record was more than sufficient. We conclude that the District Court had discretion to refuse to take additional evidence on these objections in light of the previous proceedings. We find no abuse of discretion by the District Court in not allowing additional testimony.

We also conclude that the enhancement itself for obstruction of justice was not clearly erroneous. U.S.S.G. § 3C1.1 recommends a two-level enhancement if “(A) the defendant willfully obstructed or impeded, or attempted to obstruct or impede, the administration of justice with respect to the investigation, prosecution, or sentencing of the instant offense of conviction, and (B) the obstructive conduct related to (I) the defendant’s offense of conviction and any relevant conduct; or (ii) a closely related offense.” In applying this enhancement for obstruction of justice, the District Court found that Evans’s act of providing two misleading documents to an investigator (after an inventory of items in *272 the Mounted Unit was undertaken) supported the enhancement, as did false statements made to the investigating officers that impeded the investigation. The two documents at issue were a receipt for a personal purchase of boots to be delivered to the Mounted Unit, and a memorandum from Evans to the Commanding Officer of the Tow Squad requesting flashing lights for Evans’ vehicle. The District Court concluded—we believe permissibly—that Evans provided these documents in an attempt to mislead Lt. Dennis Wilson, who was heading the investigation, and convince him that Evans had no involvement in the scheme. App. 549, 588-89. Moreover, the record reflects that statements made to others involved in the scheme as well as statements made to Wilson support the two-level enhancement for obstruction. Thus, we will not disturb the obstruction finding.

Furthermore, we find no error in the District Court’s application of the enhancement for “abuse of position of trust” under U.S.S.G. § 3B1.3. That Guideline advises that “[i]f the defendant abused a position of public or private trust, or used a special skill, in a manner that significantly facilitated the commission or concealment of the offense, increase by 2 levels.” U.S.S.G. § 3B1.3. An adjustment for abuse of trust is not warranted if abuse of trust is included in the base offense level or specific offense characteristic. Id.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

United States v. Booker
543 U.S. 220 (Supreme Court, 2004)
United States v. Juan Pardo
25 F.3d 1187 (Third Circuit, 1994)
United States v. Thomas E. Sienkowski
359 F.3d 463 (Seventh Circuit, 2004)
United States v. Sean Michael Grier
475 F.3d 556 (Third Circuit, 2007)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
216 F. App'x 268, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-evans-ca3-2007.