United States v. Quintanilla

760 F. Supp. 687, 1991 WL 37687
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Illinois
DecidedMarch 4, 1991
Docket90 CR 772
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 760 F. Supp. 687 (United States v. Quintanilla) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Quintanilla, 760 F. Supp. 687, 1991 WL 37687 (N.D. Ill. 1991).

Opinion

AMENDED MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

CONLON, District Judge.

Stripped of pleading intricacies, this case basically involves an alleged scheme by a former G. Heileman Brewing Company employee and two other persons to defraud *690 the company of over $700,000. In a forty-count “First Superseding Indictment” (“the indictment”), defendants Carlos Quintanil-la, Joseph Monreal and Leticia Gutierrez are charged with a barrage of offenses arising from essentially the same alleged course of conduct, including violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (“RICO”); mail and wire fraud; transporting stolen property in interstate commerce; conspiracy to defraud the Internal Revenue Service; money laundering; and theft or embezzlement from federal employment and training funds. Quintanilla moves to dismiss Count One of the indictment. 1 In a separate motion, Gutierrez moves to dismiss the entire indictment. In addition, Gutierrez requests a Kastigar hearing.

BACKGROUND

I. Facts Pertinent to Count One of the Indictment

On a pretrial motion to dismiss, the court must determine whether the allegations in the indictment are sufficient to charge an offense, regardless of the strength or weakness of the government’s case. United States v. Sampson, 371 U.S. 75, 78-79, 83 S.Ct. 173, 175, 9 L.Ed.2d 136 (1962); United States v. Risk, 843 F.2d 1059, 1061 (7th Cir.1988). For purposes of the motions to dismiss, the court accepts as true the factual allegations in the indictment.

The G. Heileman Brewing Company, Inc. (“Heileman”) brews, markets and sells alcoholic beverages. Heileman hired Monreal as a sales representative in April 1983; Monreal was promoted to Director of Hispanic Market Development in September 1984. As part of its marketing efforts, Heileman awarded sponsorship funds to various community group programs in areas that included Chicago and Milwaukee. Id. In order to receive Heileman’s funding, the community groups were required to submit proposals detailing the program to be funded, the amount of money needed, and the way in which the money would be spent. It was Monreal’s job to screen each particular funding request and make preliminary recommendations as to whether Heileman should award the funds requested by the community group.

One such community group was Operation Search, an Illinois not-for-profit organization. Operation Search’s articles of incorporation stated that it was organized:

to encourage, promote, and advance charitable and civic activity by providing meaningful and effective employment services to low and moderate income residents residing primarily in the Westtown and Humboldt Park communities of Chicago ....

Indictment Count One, ¶ 1(A). At all relevant times, Quintanilla served as executive director of Operation Search. Quintanilla controlled all aspects of Operation Search, including the organization’s financial dealings.

The indictment alleges that beginning in September 1983 and continuing through July 1987, Quintanilla, Monreal and Gutier-rez 2 conspired in a scheme to defraud Heileman of substantial sums of money earmarked for Heileman’s sponsorship of community programs. According to the indictment, the defendants accomplished their scheme by submitting to Heileman several false and inflated funding requests on behalf of Operation Search. Each time Heileman awarded funds to Operation Search, Monreal received all or some of the money in kickbacks. Gutierrez also is charged with receiving some of the fraudulently obtained money. The indictment additionally alleges that the three defendants conspired to submit to Heileman fraudulent *691 funding requests on behalf of other Hispanic organizations.

In addition to the fraud perpetrated on Heileman, the indictment further alleges that Quintanilla devised a scheme to defraud the City of Chicago of federal Job Training and Partnership Act (“JTPA”) funds. Quintanilla accomplished this scheme by causing Operation Search to submit false vouchers and other documentation to the Chicago office in charge of administering and distributing JTPA funds.

II. Gutierrez’ Statement of Facts

Gutierrez submitted a statement of facts in support of her motion to dismiss the indictment. Because the government “intentionally does not advance any additional facts either to contest the assertions Gutierrez makes or to place her representations in context,” see Government’s response at 25, the court accepts Gutierrez’ representations as true for the purpose of this motion.

In 1983, Gutierrez was assistant manager and administrator of the Mexico Medical Center on West 26th Street in Chicago, and was well-respected in Chicago’s Hispanic community. During 1983, Gutierrez fell in love with Monreal. Because she loved Monreal, Gutierrez “ghost-wrote” proposals that Monreal submitted to Heileman as his own work. According to Gutierrez, Monreal took advantage of Gutierrez’ intellect and position in the community for nearly three years before she realized how foolish she had been to assist him in “his crimes.” Gutierrez’ statement of facts at 2.

In June 1986, Gutierrez revealed to Heileman’s legal department that Monreal had received kickbacks from Heileman’s funding program in an amount “probably totalling six figures.” Id. at 2-3. Heile-man’s personnel referred Gutierrez to the Illinois Attorney General’s office, where she related her information to investigators of the United States Department of Labor. Gutierrez eventually gave her story to an Assistant United States Attorney (“AUSA”). From late 1986 until May 1990, Gutierrez cooperated with AUSA Scott Mendeloff and other AUSAs in their investigation of Monreal’s conduct in securing kickbacks from Heileman’s funding program. In 1987, she made monitored telephone calls to Monreal and others, and she wore a concealed electronic recording device while meeting with Monreal and other persons under investigation. Gutierrez cooperated with Mendeloff in this way despite the fact that Monreal had threatened Gutierrez and her children.

On August 17, 1987, Mendeloff issued a subpoena directing Gutierrez to appear before a federal grand jury and bring records relating to funds received from Heileman, Operation Search and Quintanilla. Before her grand jury appearance, Patrick Reilly, an attorney, telephoned Mendeloff and asked if Gutierrez would receive immunity in exchange for her past and continued cooperation with the investigation. See Mendeloff’s notes of August 31, 1987, attached to Gutierrez’ statement of facts. Mendeloff told Reilly that no immunity would be forthcoming and that the government was prepared to indict Gutierrez for her role in the kickback scheme. Mende-loff further stated that if she was convicted, the government would immunize Gutierrez to obtain her testimony against others.

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Bluebook (online)
760 F. Supp. 687, 1991 WL 37687, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-quintanilla-ilnd-1991.