*Several Supreme Court rulings are used as the basis for securities and
mail fraud charges in odometer tampering cases. Those cases are
summarized below. Links to the opinions in \"Findlaw\" (which are
available to all regardless of Westlaw access) are included.*

[McElroy v. United States]{.underline}, 455 U.S. 642 (1982), was a
prosecution under 18 U.S.C. § 2314. This statute is used in connection
with motor vehicles titles with false odometer readings, as discussed
below.

This statute makes it a crime to transport forged securities in
interstate commerce. In [McElroy]{.underline}, the defendant had stolen
checks in Ohio, then used them with forged signatures in Pennsylvania.
The government could not prove where the forgery took place, but
obtained a conviction which the Supreme Court upheld. The jury was
instructed that it had to find that the checks were transported in
interstate commerce in a forged condition, but that the transportation
in the forged condition could have taken place entirely in Pennsylvania,
as long as the transport was a continuation of transportation that began
out of state. 455 U.S. at 645, and fn. 6. The Supreme Court explicitly
approved this instruction, [id.]{.underline} at 653 - 54, and stated
that the prosecutor need not prove \"that the securities had been forged
before crossing state lines.\" [Id.]{.underline} at 654, and fn. 19
(\"Requiring prosecutors to prove on which side of the border the
\[defendant\] forged the checks . . . serves no purpose.\")

For purposes of 18 U.S.C. § 2314, \"securities\" are defined to include
any \"valid . . . motor vehicle title.\" 18 U.S.C. § 2311; see [Moskal
v. United States]{.underline}, 498 U.S. 103, 107 n.1 (1990). Valid motor
vehicle titles that contain materially false information such as
fraudulent mileage readings are \"falsely made\" under the statute.
[Moskal]{.underline}, 498 U.S. at 107-18, discussed below. Thus, under
[McElroy]{.underline}, a false mileage reading need not be entered on
the motor vehicle title prior to the title's transportation in
interstate commerce; it is sufficient that the title was transported in
interstate commerce and was then rendered falsely made (by, for example,
having a false mileage figure placed on the title).

The Court\'s opinion is available on \"Findlaw\" at:

[[http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?navby=case&court=us&vol=455&page=642]{.underline}](http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?navby=case&court=us&vol=455&page=642)

[Schmuck v. United States]{.underline}, 489 U.S. 705 (1989), involved
odometer tampering that was the essential fraud in a charged mail fraud
scheme. The defendant sold clocked cars to Wisconsin dealers. The
Wisconsin dealers did not know the cars were clocked, and in turn sold
them to consumers. The dealers then applied to Wisconsin for new titles,
mailing in title applications. These mailings to the state were the
mailings charged as offenses in the mail fraud counts, as the defendants
were alleged to have caused them to occur.

The Supreme Court held that those mailings satisfied the mailing element
of the mail fraud offense. The Court reasoned that because Schmuck
clocked over 150 cars, his scheme was ongoing, not a \"one-shot\"
affair. 489 U.S. at 711. \"\[A\]lthough the registration-form mailings
may not have contributed directly to the duping of either the retail
dealers or the customers, they were necessary to the passage of title,
which in turn was essential to the perpetuation of Schmuck\'s scheme.\"
[Id.]{.underline} at 712.

The Court\'s opinion is available on \"Findlaw\" at:

[[http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?navby=case&court=us&vol=489&page=705]{.underline}](http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?navby=case&court=us&vol=489&page=705)

[Moskal v. United States]{.underline}, 498 U.S. 103 (1990), involved a
title washing scheme. The defendant obtained titles that the state
issued based on false information about the motor vehicle\'s odometer
reading. The title the state issued incorporated the false low mileage
reading. The Supreme Court held that motor vehicle titles were \"falsely
made\" within the meaning of 18 U.S.C. § 2314 where the titles contained
fraudulently tendered odometer readings, even though the issuing state
was not involved with the fraud. 498 U.S. at 109. That is, \"\'falsely
made\' encompasses genuine documents containing false information\[.\]\"
[Id.]{.underline} at 110.

The Court observed: \"A person who transports such a security in
interstate commerce violates § 2314 . . . if he does so with unlawful or
fraudulent intent and if the false information itself is material.\"
[Id.]{.underline} at 118.

The Court\'s opinion is available on \"Findlaw\" at:
[[http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?navby=case&court=us&vol=498&page=103]{.underline}](http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?navby=case&court=us&vol=498&page=103)