United States v. Flonnory

630 F.3d 1280, 2011 U.S. App. LEXIS 139, 2011 WL 14465
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
DecidedJanuary 5, 2011
Docket10-6037
StatusPublished
Cited by29 cases

This text of 630 F.3d 1280 (United States v. Flonnory) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Tenth 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. Flonnory, 630 F.3d 1280, 2011 U.S. App. LEXIS 139, 2011 WL 14465 (10th Cir. 2011).

Opinion

HARTZ, Circuit Judge.

After a jury trial in the United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma, Defendant Lonnie J. Flonnory was convicted of five counts of obtaining money through false pretenses under the Assimilative Crimes Act, see 18 U.S.C. § 13, applying OMa. Stat. tit. 21, § 1541.1 (2002). On appeal he challenges his conviction on one of the counts, arguing that the government failed to prove that he had committed the offense on federal territory and that the district court failed to instruct the jury not to speculate about the location of the offense. He also contends that he must be resentenced because the court miscalculated his offense level under the United States Sentencing Guidelines by using too high a figure for the loss suffered by his victims and by finding that he obstructed justice when he committed perjury at trial. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 and affirm.

I. BACKGROUND

Defendant was a civilian employee of the United States Department of Defense at Fort Sill in OMahoma. Although there was evidence that he had defrauded a number of people, he was charged only with defrauding Dennis Carver, another civilian Department of Defense employee, who worked in the same office as Defendant, about four desks away. In April 2004 Defendant approached Carver about an investment opportunity. They met at the Burger King on Fort Sill, where Defendant told Carver that he had a connection at the local courthouse who could provide tips about foreclosed property that was available for purchase although the public did not yet have notice. Defendant said that he would use the invested money to buy property and soon resell it. He promised Carver a return of 25% on his money in only four months. Carver’s initial investment was a cashier’s check for $2,000 on April 7; in return he received a 120-day promissory note for $2,500.

On April 30, Carver gave Defendant another cashier’s check for $3,500. In exchange Carver received a second 120-day promissory note, this time for $4,375, again a 25% return. He gave additional cashier’s checks to Defendant on May 19 and June 9 for $2,000 each. On June 9 Defendant also gave Carver a new promissory note that covered all four of Carver’s cashier’s checks. Finally, Carver wrote four personal checks to Defendant before being *1282 deployed to Iraq in early July; each check was postdated so that Defendant could cash it while Carver was out of the country. Carver testified that he left the four checks in Defendant’s drawer at work. Carver estimated that he had invested about $28,000 with Defendant, and nothing was ever repaid. The five counts on which Defendant was convicted related to the last five checks that Carver gave to Defendant — the June 9 cashier’s check and the four personal checks. No charges could be pursued based on the April 7, April 30, and May 19 checks because the five-year limitations period had expired by the time the indictment was filed on May 20, 2009. See 18 U.S.C. § 3282(a).

Defendant had not used the money to buy foreclosed property in Oklahoma, but instead had invested it in Nigerian oil contracts in which he was also investing personal funds. Defendant said that he had told Carver and his other investors that they were investing in Nigerian oil contracts; but at trial Carver and two others (a husband and wife who had invested in February 2004) testified otherwise.

According to the presentenee investigation report (PSR), Defendant had defrauded 13 victims out of $194,230. It calculated Defendant’s sentencing guideline range as follows: There being no guideline for the state statute, the PSR used the most analogous guideline, § 2B1.1, entitled “Larceny, Embezzlement, and Other Forms of Theft....” See USSG § 2X5.1 (2009) (“If the offense is a felony for which no guidelines expressly has been promulgated, apply the most analogous offense guideline.”). Under that guideline the base offense level was 6. See id. § 2B1.1 (a). Because the victims lost $194,230, that level was increased by 10. See id. § 2B1.1(b)(1). The PSR also added 2 levels because the scheme involved more than 9 victims, see id. § 2Bl.l(b)(2)(A), and 2 more levels because Defendant had obstructed justice by committing perjury during trial, see id. § 3C1.1, resulting in a total offense level of 20. Because Defendant had no criminal-history points, his guideline sentencing range was 33-41 months. The district court agreed with the PSR and sentenced Defendant to 33 months’ incarceration.

II. DISCUSSION

A. Challenges to Count 2

1. Sufficiency of Evidence

Defendant contends that there was insufficient evidence to convict him on Count 2 because the government failed to prove that Carver delivered the June 9 check to him on the military base. We begin our analysis by describing the law under which Defendant was prosecuted.

The Assimilative Crimes Act states:

Whoever within or upon any of the places now existing or hereafter reserved or acquired as provided in section 7 of this title ... is guilty of any act or omission which, although not made punishable by any enactment of Congress, would be punishable if committed or omitted within the jurisdiction of the State ... in which such place is situated, by the laws thereof in force at the time of such act or omission, shall be guilty of a like offense and subject to a like punishment.

18 U.S.C. § 13(a). The referenced “section 7” is 18 U.S.C. § 7, which defines special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States to include:

Any lands reserved or acquired for the use of the United States, and under the exclusive or concurrent jurisdiction thereof, or any place purchased or otherwise acquired by the United States by consent of the legislature of the State in which the same shall be, for the erection *1283 of a fort, magazine, arsenal, dockyard, or other needful building.

18 U.S.C. § 7(3). The government and Defendant stipulated that Fort Sill comes within § 7. Fort Sill is in Oklahoma, so Oklahoma law is the law to be assimilated. Oklahoma’s false-pretenses statute makes it unlawful for anyone “with intent to cheat and defraud, [to] obtain or attempt to obtain from any person, firm or corporation any money, property or valuable thing, ... by means or by use of any trick or deception, or false or fraudulent representation or statement or pretense....” Okla. Stat. tit. 21, § 1541.1 (2002).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
630 F.3d 1280, 2011 U.S. App. LEXIS 139, 2011 WL 14465, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-flonnory-ca10-2011.