United States v. Richard Shannon

803 F.3d 778, 2015 FED App. 0250P, 2015 U.S. App. LEXIS 18259, 2015 WL 5103069
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedSeptember 1, 2015
Docket14-1727
StatusUnpublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 803 F.3d 778 (United States v. Richard Shannon) 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. Richard Shannon, 803 F.3d 778, 2015 FED App. 0250P, 2015 U.S. App. LEXIS 18259, 2015 WL 5103069 (6th Cir. 2015).

Opinion

DAMON J. KEITH, Circuit Judge.

Defendant-Appellant, Richard Shannon, appeals his conviction and sentence stemming from his involvement in a large-scale Medicare fraud scheme in which twenty-one people were indicted. Shannon was convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1349 and sentenced to 86 months imprisonment. On appeal, Shannon argues that (1) the district court erred in allowing the Government to introduce his proffer statements into evidence during trial; and (2) the district court’s sentence was proeedurally unreasonable. We AFFIRM the district court’s ruling admitting Shannon’s proffer statements. However, because the district court’s sentence failed to comport with Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 32(i)(3)(B), we VACATE Shannon’s sentence and REMAND for resen-tencing.

I. BACKGROUND

On October 26, 2012, a jury found Shannon guilty of one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud. On May 13, 2014, Shannon was sentenced to 86 months incarceration. The circumstances surrounding Shannon’s conviction are as follows:

In 2008, Shannon met Mohammed Sha-hab, an owner and operator of various health care agencies in Michigan, through another co-conspirator. Shannon subsequently agreed to work for Shahab as a “marketer” or “recruiter” for two of Sha-hab’s home health-care agencies: All American Home Health Care (“All American”) and Patient Choice Home Health Care (“Patient Choice”). Both agencies were run by Hassan Akhtar. Shannon’s role required him to obtain account information and signatures on pre-signed medical notes from Medicare beneficiaries in exchange for $50-$100 and/or prescription narcotics. Shannon then delivered these pre-signed notes to the health care 'agencies where they were fraudulently signed by medical professionals. The billing staff *781 then billed the Medicare accounts for services that were not rendered. Shannon was paid $400-$600 for each “patient” he recruited. To disguise their illegal scheme as legitimate payment for services rendered to Shahab’s agencies, Shahab instructed Shannon to establish his own company in order to submit invoices to Shahab’s agencies for payment. Shannon established Shannon Community Liaison, and Richard Shannon Community Liaison, to receive payment.

On July 13, 2010, an indictment charged Shannon and several others with conspiracy to commit health care fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1349. On December 3, 2010, Shannon, along with counsel, met with the Government to make a proffer statement. Prior to the proffer statement, Shannon and his attorney were provided with a proffer agreement, also known as a Kastigar letter. The agreement was signed by the Government, Shannon, and his defense counsel. The agreement provided, in relevant part, that:

(2) Except as otherwise specified in this letter, no statement made by you or your client during this proffer discussion will be offered against your client in the government’s case-in-chief in any criminal prosecution of your client for the matters currently under investigation.
(3) If your client is prosecuted, the government may use your client’s statements in cross-examining your client, and to rebut any evidence offered by your client that is inconsistent with the statements made during this discussion. This is to ensure your client does not abuse the opportunity for this proffer discussion by making false or misleading statements, either at the proffer discussion or at trial.

(R. 496-2, Proffer Agreement, Pg ID 2149). During the proffer session, Shannon made several inculpatory statements regarding his involvement in the health care fraud conspiracy.

At Shannon’s trial, the Government offered the testimony of Akhtar, who pleaded guilty and cooperated with the Government. Akhtar testified that he ran Shahab’s clinics, Patient Choice and All American (R. 622, Trial Transcript, Pg ID 3633), and that he knew Shannon as a recruiter for these clinics. (Id. at Pg ID 3634). Akhtar testified that he paid Shannon $400 for every patient Shannon recruited, and that Shannon claimed to pay each patient between $50 and $100, in,addition to prescription pain pills. (Id. at Pg ID 3643, 3640). Akhtar further testified that he received a call from a patient stating that he had not received money that Shannon promised to him. (Id. at Pg ID 3637-39). On cross-examination, the following exchange occurred between Shannon’s counsel and Akhtar:

Q [defense counsel]: Okay. And that’s not firsthand knowledge, correct? You didn’t see Mr. — Mr. Shannon paying any patients, correct?
A [Akhtar]: No, sir.
Q [defense counsel]: Okay. And you didn’t direct Mr. Shannon to pay any patients, correct?
A [Akhtar]: No, sir.
Q [defense counsel]: That was just the rumor going around in the office, correct?
A [Akhtar]: No.
Q [defense counsel] That wasn’t a rumor?
A [Akhtar] It was not a rumor if patient is calling and asking that Shannon had me sign the paperwork and did not give me the money he promised.
Q [defense counsel] Okay. Well, if he didn’t pay him the money that he *782 promised, that means he didn’t pay them, correct?
A [Akhtar] That’s why patient was calling, to get the money.
Q [defense counsel] Okay. I understand that’s why they were calling, but they weren’t paid, correct?
A [Akhtar] At that time, yes.
Q [defense counsel] Okay. And you have no firsthand knowledge of them actually paying the patient, correct? We’ve already established that, right?
A [Akhtar] Right, I did not see him because I was in the office.

(R. 623, Trial Transcript, Pg ID #3802). On October 16, 2012, in response to this exchange and Shannon’s questioning of other witnesses, the Government filed its Motion to Use Statements Made by Defendant Richard Shannon During Proffer Sessions. 1 (R. 496, Pg ID #2140-58). In its. motion, the government asserted that Shannon waived the restrictions on the use of his proffer statements when Shannon’s counsel “repeatedly attempted to elicit testimony that [was] inconsistent with [] statements by [Defendant].” The district court found that the defense’s cross-examination went “too far,” and led to an inference that was inconsistent with Shannon’s proffer. (R. 674, Trial Transcript at 19, Page ID 5638). The district court granted the Government’s motion to allow introduction of Shannon’s proffer statements. The jury found Shannon guilty of one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud.

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Bluebook (online)
803 F.3d 778, 2015 FED App. 0250P, 2015 U.S. App. LEXIS 18259, 2015 WL 5103069, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-richard-shannon-ca6-2015.