United States v. Kofi Agyekum

846 F.3d 744, 2017 WL 344982, 2017 U.S. App. LEXIS 1220
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
DecidedJanuary 24, 2017
Docket15-4479
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 846 F.3d 744 (United States v. Kofi Agyekum) 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. Kofi Agyekum, 846 F.3d 744, 2017 WL 344982, 2017 U.S. App. LEXIS 1220 (4th Cir. 2017).

Opinions

Affirmed by published opinion. Judge NIEMEYER wrote the opinion, in which Judge. MOTZ concurred and Judge WYNN concurred in part. Judge WYNN wrote a separate opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part.

NIEMEYER, Circuit Judge:

Pursuant to a plea agreement, Kofi Agyekum pleaded guilty to two counts of structuring cash transactions to evade reporting requirements, in violation of 31 U.S.C. § 5324, and agreed to forfeit significant assets. When, at sentencing, the district court calculated Agyekum’s sentencing range under the Sentencing Guidelines, it increased Agyekum’s offense level based on his leadership role and his abuse of a position of trust in connection with a drug distribution conspiracy that the district court found to be “relevant conduct” under U.S.S.G. § 1B1.3.

On appeal; Agyekum challenges the district court’s conclusion that his participation in a drug‘conspiracy qualified as “relevant conduct” to his structuring convictions. And in connection with his agreement to forfeit assets, he contends that the district court failed to ensure that he was adequately aware of all of the procedural protections he was waiving.

Finding no reversible error, we affirm.

[747]*747I

In October 2012, Kofi Agyekum and his wife, Patricia Agyekum, opened A+ Care Pharmacy in Barboursville, West Virginia. Patricia was the licensed pharmacist, while Kofi was a licensed pharmacist intern. Kofi had completed pharmacy school but had failed the board examination. Kofi Agye-kum, nonetheless, functioned as the chief executive officer of A+ Care Pharmacy, “controlling] everything,” as his wife later explained.

In June 2014, as IRS and DEA agents were investigating a drug trafficking organization that was illegally distributing oxycodone pills in and around Lincoln County, West Virginia, the agents began to focus on A+ Care Pharmacy as a source of the drugs. Specifically, after agents searched the Florida home of the suspected head of the drug trafficking organization, the suspect agreed to serve as a confidential informant (“Cl”), telling agents that he and his fiancée had started filling prescriptions at A+ Care Pharmacy in November 2012, in part because the pharmacy was willing to fill out-of-state prescriptions. The Cl indicated that after approximately four months of dealing with A+ Care Pharmacy, Kofi Agyekum, who appeared to be in charge of the pharmacy, told him to have his physician start writing prescriptions for non-narcotics in addition to the narcotic prescriptions to avoid raising the DEA’s suspicion. Agyekum also directed that the Cl pay for future prescriptions in cash.

The law enforcement agents twice used the Cl to make controlled purchases of oxycodone and other drugs from A+ Care Pharmacy. During the first transaction on June 13 and 16, 2014, Agyekum charged the Cl $1,100 more than he had previously charged him for the same prescriptions; asked the Cl what he was doing with the prescription pill bottles; responded “Ok” when the Cl said that he burned the bottles; agreed to fill other out-of-state prescriptions for the Cl’s employees; and tore off dosing receipts identifying A+ Care Pharmacy as the filling pharmacy before handing over the prescriptions, stating that he did not want to leave a paper trail. During the second transaction on July 21, 2014, when the Cl asked if he could purchase oxycodone tablets without a prescription, Agyekum responded that the Cl should check with him the following month.

The investigation of A+ Care Pharmacy and Agyekum also revealed their connection with a drug trafficking operation led by Anthony Ferguson, which operated out of Owingsville, Kentucky, and which also used A+ Care Pharmacy as a supplier of oxycodone pills for illegal distribution. Between January and July 2014, Ferguson paid for a number of people to travel regularly to Georgia, Florida, and Virginia to obtain oxycodone prescriptions and fill them at A+ Care Pharmacy, visiting the pharmacy about two or three times a week and filling five to six prescriptions at a time. Ferguson or his lieutenant always paid cash for the prescriptions, and Agye-kum charged Ferguson more to fill prescriptions for members of the organization who were “doctor shoppers.” In March or April 2014, Agyekum began selling oxyco-done to Ferguson without a prescription, usually charging $1,500 for 100 30-milli-gram oxycodone pills. On one occasion in July 2014, Ferguson gave Agyekum a 2004 Nissan Maxima in exchange for 200 oxyco-done pills, and on another occasion later that month, Ferguson bought 1,000 oxyco-done pills from Agyekum for $15,000.

According to DEA records, “A+ Care Pharmacy was the third largest distributor of oxycodone in West Virginia for 2014,” and the drug made up 70% of the pharmacy’s annual dosage units for 2014.

[748]*748The law enforcement agents also began investigating Agyekum’s banking practices. A bank teller at the Fifth Third Bank in Barboursville told agents that when Agyekum attempted to deposit $16,000 in cash into a savings account on December 23, 2013, the teller began completing a currency transaction report for the deposit, as banks are required to do for transfers involving more than $10,000 in U.S. currency, prompting Agyekum to ask how he could avoid the reporting paperwork. After the teller explained the reporting paperwork, Agyekum asked if the report would still have to be filed if he made the deposits on different days or used different branches. He then asked for $7,000 of the cash back, depositing only $9,000 that day. He returned later in the week and made additional cash deposits of just under $10,000.

In a similar manner, Agyekum opened a savings account at J.P. Morgan Chase Bank on February 24, 2014, and deposited $13,500 in cash into that account the next day. When a teller asked for his identification in order to prepare the currency transaction report, Agyekum was reluctant to provide it and asked about the amounts that triggered the reporting requirement. After the teller told Agyekum that deposits over $10,000 would require the filing of the report, Agyekum never again deposited over $10,000 in a single transaction. Moreover, in the two-month period after he opened the J.P. Morgan Chase savings account, Agyekum opened six additional accounts on which he was listed as the sole owner and signer.

In total, from March 3 through August 9, 2014, Agyekum made structured cash deposits of $469,930 into bank accounts at five different banks. For example, after A+ Care Pharmacy had taken in approximately $40,647 in cash proceeds during the three-day period from April 22 through April 24, 2014, Agyekum made a series of deposits on April 25, depositing $8,000 in cash at J.P. Morgan Chase Bank; $8,000 in cash at Fifth Third Bank; $9,500 at Huntington National Bank; $2,500 in cash at First Sentry Bank; and another $6,000 in cash into a different account at First Sentry Bank. When he made the deposit at Fifth Third Bank, Agyekum attempted to explain the deposit by telling the branch manager that the cash was coming from his business and that he did not accept checks or credit card payments from his clientele.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
846 F.3d 744, 2017 WL 344982, 2017 U.S. App. LEXIS 1220, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-kofi-agyekum-ca4-2017.