United States v. Gross

199 F. App'x 219
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
DecidedJune 28, 2006
Docket03-4458, 03-4459, 03-4543, 03-4641, 03-4673
StatusUnpublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 199 F. App'x 219 (United States v. Gross) 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. Gross, 199 F. App'x 219 (4th Cir. 2006).

Opinion

DUNCAN, Circuit Judge:

James Gross, Sr., James Gross, Jr., James Wilkes, James Feaster and Ronald Eddie appeal their convictions and sentences for numerous offenses arising out of a racketeering enterprise and conspiracy operated in Baltimore, Maryland. For the reasons that follow, we affirm all of the appellants’ convictions and affirm Ronald Eddie’s sentence. We vacate the sentences of James Gross Sr., James Gross, Jr., and James Wilkes, and remand for resentencing consistent with United States v. Booker, 543 U.S. 220, 125 S.Ct. 738, 160 L.Ed.2d 621 (2005).

I.

At differing times, the wide-ranging conspiracy at issue involved one or more, but rarely all, of the appellants simultaneously. We therefore initially present only those facts descriptive of the operation generally. We provide additional facts as necessary to discuss the specific issues raised by individual defendants.

James Gross, Sr. (“Gross Sr.”) and Louis Colvin (“Colvin”) were incarcerated on federal drug charges from the early to late 1990s. While his father was in prison, James Gross, Jr. (“Gross Jr.”) became involved in drug trafficking. When Gross Sr. and Colvin were released, they joined and eventually assumed the leadership of Gross Jr.’s drug trafficking operation. Testimony would establish that the GrossColvin operation, and later, the operation led by Gross Sr., trafficked in large quantities of cocaine and heroin obtained from a variety of sources including contacts located in New York and Delaware. Evidence introduced at trial reflected that the enterprises made approximately $3,000 to $3,500 a day selling heroin, and $8,000 to $10,000 a day selling cocaine.

Using proceeds from the drug trafficking activities, Gross Sr. and Colvin opened a nightclub called Strawberry’s 5000 in 1999. Although Strawberry’s 5000 was the hub of their illicit activities, Gross Sr. and Colvin also opened and ran other front businesses, including another nightclub called Intellects.

Gross Sr. obtained an insurance policy for Strawberry’s 5000 that provided $300,000 in coverage for the building and $100,000 in coverage for the business property that it contained. Because Gross Sr. and Colvin had prior felony convictions, however, they were unable to obtain a liquor license in their own names. They recruited James Feaster (“Feaster”) to act as nominal owner of the club and obtain the liquor license in his name. In documentation to the Liquor Board, Feaster claimed that he was a 100% stockholder of and was making ongoing financial contributions to the nightclub. Gross Sr. and Colvin testified that they had obtained a food permit for the club in their own names for logistical reasons. Gross Sr. also testified that he worked for the club as a consultant. In fact, Gross Sr. and Colvin owned Strawberry’s 5000; Feaster was paid a salary and provided a sport utility vehicle for his participation in the enterprise.

Throughout 1999, Feaster engaged in a pattern of behavior reflecting inconsistent positions regarding his involvement with Strawberry’s 5000. For example, he entered into a number of financial transactions, including the refinancing of his home and lease transactions for several new cars. In the documentation for these transactions Feaster stated that he was *226 employed as a college campus security officer and worked a second job as a manager at Strawberry’s 5000. He made no representations in these documents regarding an ownership interest in the club. However, during this same period, Feast-er incorporated 5000 Entertainment LLC and applied for the club’s liquor license. In February of 2000, the Liquor Board issued the liquor license for Strawberry’s 5000 to Feaster and 5000 Entertainment LLC.

In March of 2000, Strawberry’s 5000 was raided by the Drug Enforcement Agency (“DEA”) in connection with an investigation into the drug trafficking activities of Gross Sr. and Colvin. Feaster represented to the agents that he was the owner and manager, although he later admitted to the DEA that Gross Sr. and Colvin were the true owners, and that he was paid a salary and had a car leased for him in exchange for having the liquor license in his name.

Later in March of 2000, Feaster informed the Liquor Board that he had purchased Strawberry’s 5000, and made arrangements to have the insurance policy transferred into the name of 5000 Entertainment LLC. The Liquor Board convened a hearing, at which Colvin testified that Gross Sr. had told a club employee to testify that Feaster was the owner of the club. Colvin also testified to other conversations with Gross Sr. and Feaster about lying to the Liquor Board regarding the ownership of Strawberry’s 5000. At the conclusion of the hearing, the Board suspended the club’s liquor license for thirty days.

As Colvin’s testimony at the Liquor Board hearing suggests, his relationship with the Grosses had begun to deteriorate. It deteriorated further in 2001, after Strawberry’s 5000 burned to the ground. In the weeks prior to the fire, Gross Jr. talked to Colvin about setting fire to the building to collect the insurance proceeds. Colvin objected because of the club’s financial success. Gross Jr. nevertheless approached Sean Chance (“Chance”) and Ronald Eddie (“Eddie”) about the proposed arson. Colvin and a club employee moved most of the television sets and much of the stereo equipment to Intellects, the other night club owned by Gross Sr. and Colvin. The alarm system was deactivated on January 20, 2001 using Gross Sr.’s alarm code, and was not reactivated prior to the fire.

On January 27, 2001, the day of the fire, Gross Jr., Chance and Eddie obtained gasoline and crafted lighting devices using tennis balls. They took the devices to Strawberry’s 5000, where Chance acted as a lookout and Eddie and Gross Jr. set the fire. Gross Sr. later informed Colvin that Gross Jr. had followed through on the plan to burn Strawberry’s 5000.

On the day of the fire, Feaster had gone to the club and observed that stereo equipment was missing. When he confronted Colvin about it, Colvin claimed that the equipment was actually rental property that had been returned. Feaster later admitted to a Baltimore County Detective that he knew this statement was false. 1 Nevertheless, two days after the fire, Feaster contacted the insurance company that held the policy on the club in order to report the fire, and filed a claim for the limits of the policy. When the insurance checks were received, Feaster was paid $30,000 of the proceeds.

*227 By the summer of 2001, the relationship between Colvin and the Grosses had disintegrated irreparably. The Grosses had come to believe that Colvin was cutting them out of his business dealings. For his part, Colvin discovered that Gross Jr. had been stealing money from Intellects, which, by then, Colvin operated. This discovery led to a fight between Gross Jr. and one of Colvin’s employees. Colvin banned Gross Jr. from Intellects, which resulted in a lawsuit against Colvin by the Grosses.

A government witness, Martin Young (‘Young”) later testified that, during this period, he witnessed Gross Jr. point a gun at Colvin’s head while the three of them were in an automobile together. Gross Jr. was in the back seat while Colvin was in front. Young saw Gross Jr. point the gun, but Colvin did not.

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Related

United States v. James Elmer Gross, Jr.
691 F. App'x 104 (Fourth Circuit, 2017)
Gross v. Lappin
648 F. Supp. 2d 48 (District of Columbia, 2009)
United States v. Gross
253 F. App'x 264 (Fourth Circuit, 2007)

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Bluebook (online)
199 F. App'x 219, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-gross-ca4-2006.