United States v. Reinhard

CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedFebruary 5, 2008
Docket06-5154
StatusPublished

This text of United States v. Reinhard (United States v. Reinhard) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Sixth 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. Reinhard, (6th Cir. 2008).

Opinion

RECOMMENDED FOR FULL-TEXT PUBLICATION Pursuant to Sixth Circuit Rule 206 File Name: 08a0062p.06

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT _________________

X - UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, - Plaintiff-Appellee/Cross-Appellant, - - Nos. 06-5077/5079/5103/5104/ v. , 5153/5154/5155/5157 > CHARLES THOMAS ALLEN, II, et al., - Defendants-Appellants/Cross-Appellees. - N Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky at Lexington. No. 05-00039—Jennifer B. Coffman, Chief District Judge. Argued: December 5, 2007 Decided and Filed: February 5, 2008 Before: RYAN, BATCHELDER, and GRIFFIN, Circuit Judges. _________________ COUNSEL ARGUED: Patrick F. Nash, Lexington, Kentucky, Michael R. Mazzoli, COX & MAZZOLI, Louisville, Kentucky, Fred E. Peters, LAW OFFICES OF FRED E. PETERS, Lexington, Kentucky, Adele Burt Brown, Lexington, Kentucky, for Appellants. Kevin R. Gingras, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Washington, D.C., for Appellee. ON BRIEF: Patrick F. Nash, Lexington, Kentucky, Michael R. Mazzoli, COX & MAZZOLI, Louisville, Kentucky, Fred E. Peters, John L. Tackett, LAW OFFICES OF FRED E. PETERS, Lexington, Kentucky, Adele Burt Brown, Lexington, Kentucky, for Appellants. Kevin R. Gingras, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Washington, D.C., Charles P. Wisdom, Jr., ASSISTANT UNITED STATES ATTORNEY, Lexington, Kentucky, for Appellee. _________________ OPINION _________________ ALICE M. BATCHELDER, Circuit Judge. Defendant-Appellants Charles Allen, Eric Borsuk, Warren Lipka, and Spencer Reinhard (collectively “defendants”) appeal from the district court’s imposition of 87-month prison sentences. All four defendants claim an identical error in the sentence calculation and the government cross-appeals, claiming an identical error in all four sentences. Because we resolve these claims identically for all four defendants, we have consolidated all eight appeals into this single opinion. Defendant Allen claims two additional errors, peculiar to his sentence, and we address those two claims individually, within this same opinion. The convictions, which followed from guilty pleas without written plea agreements, are not at issue.

1 Nos. 06-5077/5079/5103/ United States v. Allen, et al. Page 2 5104/5153/5154/5155/5157

I. The defendants were college buddies (19-20 years old) who hatched a plan to steal rare books from the special collections library at Transylvania University (Lexington, KY) and sell them at auction in New York City. Their earliest musings began in January 2004, but the actual robbery did not occur until December 17, 2004. They were apprehended February 11, 2005, pleaded guilty on April 21, 2005, were sentenced to prison on December 15, 2005, and appealed December 23, 2005. In July 2004, after months of idle discussion, these four men decided in earnest to carry out the robbery, which led to months of research (about rare books, auction houses, Swiss Bank accounts, etc.), brainstorming, and planning. As planning progressed, each of the four took on separate responsibilities: Warren Lipka created aliases (e.g., “Walter Beckman”) with fictional backgrounds, set up email accounts for those aliases, and contacted the library and various auction houses. Spencer Reinhard created disguises, drew floor plans and maps, and created false documents. Eric Borsuk and Chaz Allen staked out the library to determine staffing and security, planned the getaway (e.g., got a car, planned the route, etc.), and generally financed the operation (e.g., made hotel accommodations in New York and purchased snacks for the trip). They determined that the best time for the robbery was December, just before the University’s fall term ended. They also decided to use Christie’s auction house (New York, NY) to sell the stolen books. The plan involved only certain, rare and very valuable books. On December 3, 2004, while posing as one “Walter Beckman,” they sent an email to Christie’s “private sales department,” claiming to be “in possession of rare books . . . worth millions,” and seeking a meeting in late December 2004. On December 7, 2004, “Beckman” sent another email, apparently in response to a Christie’s reply, this time stating: “I have a first addition [sic] Origin of Species by Charles Darwin, manuscripts that date back to the 1500s, and a collection of John James Audubon’s Qquadrupeds [sic] and Birds of America. I know that these books are worth a lot . . . .” The email concluded with a renewed request for a December meeting. Meanwhile, Lipka, again representing himself as “Walter Beckman,” an out-of-town businessman, telephoned Mrs. B.J. Gooch, the Special Collections Librarian at the Transylvania University Library, to request an appointment to view several of the library’s rare books, including: Origin of Species, Illuminated Manuscripts, and the John James Audubon collection. Mrs. Gooch agreed and scheduled the appointment for 2:00 p.m. on Thursday, December 16, 2004. On December 6, 2004, “Beckman” (Lipka and Reinhard) sent an email (from a University of Kentucky computer lab) to Mrs. Gooch, confirming the appointment and again specifying an interest in “the famous Audubon books, the first addition [sic] Darwin, and any of the Illuminated Manuscripts.” On Monday or Tuesday, December 13 or 14, “Beckman” called Mrs. Gooch and rescheduled for 3:30 p.m. Thus, on Thursday at 3:30 p.m., the robbery was finally at hand and after months of planning, this was the plan: all four men would enter the library, take the books by force, and run for it. They arrived at the library dressed as “old men” — makeup, wigs, hats, and costumes, such as “one would typically see worn in a play or some other type of theatrical performance” — but aborted the plan at the last minute. The exact reason for aborting is unclear; they may have seen a flaw in the plan or simply panicked, though it was suggested that a student, unaware of the impending robbery, recognized one of them and asked what they were doing in those ridiculous costumes. The costumes were sufficiently ridiculous that two library employees, including Susan Brown, the Director of the Library, noticed them, but merely assumed some sort of college prank or goof. Nos. 06-5077/5079/5103/ United States v. Allen, et al. Page 3 5104/5153/5154/5155/5157

At approximately 4:00 p.m. that afternoon — after aborting and fleeing — “Beckman” called Mrs. Gooch and apologized for missing the appointment, claiming to have been out of town for work. He asked to reschedule for the next morning, Friday, December 17, 2004, at 11:00 a.m. Mrs. Gooch reluctantly obliged, and agreed that he could bring a friend to view the books as well. When Lipka, posing as “Walter Beckman,” arrived for the appointment at slightly after 11:00 a.m. on Friday, Mrs. Gooch was surprised by two things: (1) he was much younger than she had expected, and (2) he was wearing an unseasonably heavy coat, gloves, and hat. After establishing that the elevator was working and there were no cameras in the library, “Beckman” asked if he could have his friend join them. When Mrs. Gooch agreed, he made a call on his cell phone and “within one minute,” a second man arrived (Eric Borsuk) — wearing a heavy coat, a bandage on his face, and eyeglasses — who introduced himself as “John.” Both men signed in with illegible signatures. Once inside the Special Collections Library, the two men wrestled Mrs. Gooch to the ground, and began zapping her in the arm with a pen-type stun gun, which caused a tingling sensation and left a small bruise, but did not cause any significant pain or lasting harm. Mrs. Gooch screamed, though she knew that no one could hear her from that location in the library, but she did not panic. She testified that, while being subdued, she felt the tingling, heard an electric humming and popping noise, and feared that she was being zapped with a stun gun.

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United States v. Reinhard, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-reinhard-ca6-2008.