Document ID: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-ca10-92-02143/USCOURTS-ca10-92-02143-0/pdf.json

Parties Involved:
Robert Haran
Appellant
United States of America
Appellee

Document Text:

F l L -- ·· Awea1~ 

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALat,..;t,ed ~ State& ~ -.rt ·t ... Tenth Crrt!Ul 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 

Plaintiff-Appellee, 

v. 

ROBERT HARAN, 

Defendant-Appellant . 

TENTH CIRCUIT fEB O 5 1993 

ROBERT L. HOECKER 

Clerk 

No . 92 - 2143 

(D.C. No . CR- 90-221) 

(D.N.M. ) 

ORDER AND JUDGMENT* 

Before SEYMOUR, ANDERSON, and EBEL, Circuit Judges. 

After examining the briefs and appellate record, this panel 

has determined unanimously that oral argument would not materially 

assist the determination of this appeal . See Fed. R. App. P. 

34 (a ) ; 10th Cir. R. 34.1.9. The cause is therefore ordered 

submitted without oral argument. 

Defendant Robert Haran pled guilty to charges of conspiracy 

to commit mail and wire fraud and aiding and abetting, in 

violation of 18 U. S . C. §§ 371, 1341, 1343, and 2 . The district 

court sentenced Mr. Haran to 24 -months imprisonment after 

increasing the sentence four levels in acco rdance with a 

presentence report recommendation pursuant to United States 

*This order and judgment has no precedential value and shall not 

be cited, or used by any court within the Tenth Circuit, except 

for purposes of establishing the doctrines of the law of the case , 

res judicata, or collateral estoppel. 10th Cir. R. 36.3. 

Appellate Case: 92-2143 Document: 010110166228 Date Filed: 02/05/1993 Page: 1 
Sentencing Guidelines section 3B1.l(a) . That section provides for 

a four-level increase" [i]f the defendant was an organizer or 

leader of a criminal activity that involved five or more 

participants or was otherwise extensive." A participant is 

defined as a "person who is criminally responsible for the 

commission of the offense, but need not have been convicted. 11 

U.S.S.G. § 3B1.1, comment. (n.1 ) . Mr. Haran asserts on appeal 

that the record does not support the increase in his sentence. We 

agree with the district court's findings, and affirm Mr. Haran's 

sentence . 

We review a district court's findings of fact under a clearly 

erroneous standard. United States v . Reid, 911 F.2d 1456, 1461 

(10th Cir. 1990 ) , cert. denied, 111 S. Ct. 990 (1991); United 

States v . Williams, 897 F . 2d 1034, 1040 (10th Cir. 1990), cert. 

denied, 111 S. Ct . 2064 (1991). The government must prove by a 

preponderance of the evidence that a section 3B1.l(a) upgrade is 

warranted . Reid, 911 F.2d at 1461. We must assume that 

uncontradicted facts contained in the presentence report are 

correct. United States v. Walker, 931 F.2d 631, 636 (10th Cir. 

1991 ) . 

The presentence report , as amended, proposed that Mr . Haran's 

sentence could be increased either for having organized or led 

criminal activity involving five or more participants, or because 

the criminal activity was "otherwise extensive." The district 

court awarded the increase by agreeing with the presentence report 

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Appellate Case: 92-2143 Document: 010110166228 Date Filed: 02/05/1993 Page: 2 
but without specifying on which portion of section 3Bl.l(a) it was 

relying. 

We believe the record supports the upward adjustment of 

Haran's sentence for organizing or leading "otherwise extensive" 

criminal activity. Determining whether an activity is "otherwise 

extensive" requires an examination of "the totality of the 

circumstances, including not only the number of participants but 

also the width, breadth, scope, complexity, and duration of the 

scheme." United States v. Dietz, 950 F.2d SO, 53 (1st Cir. 1991) . 

Mr. Haran pled guilty to Count I of the indictment which charged 

him with a fraudulent scheme to obtain money by false pretenses. 

The scheme involved hiring employees to make false sales pitches 

and promises regarding bonus gifts. The F.B.I. surveillance of 

the offices of Mr. Haran revealed that he employed between forty 

to sixty employees working two shifts per day. The indictment 

states, among other things, that Mr. Haran's scheme operated 

"throughout the United States," Appellant's App. at 18; he "rented 

business offices ... wherein management, sales, verification, 

customer service, administrative, bookkeeping and shipping 

personnel were employed," id. at 19; he "caused telephones to be 

installed," id.; "hired independent contractors," id. at 20, and 

"purchased water purification systems in mass quantities," id. ; he 

applied for a City of Albuquerque business license, and a Federal 

Express Merchant Account. To insure that Mr. Haran understood the 

charges against him, the district court carefully reviewed the 

content of the indictment with him. Tr., 3/27/92 at 8-9, 19-20. 

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Mr. Haran indicated his understanding and gave his assent to the 

charges, admitting that he did the described acts. Id. Mr. Haran 

also acknowledged that his operation utilized both the mail and 

wire communications in interstate commerce to effect his scheme. 

Finally, the operation led by Mr. Haran generated over $400,000 in 

income in a short period of time. These facts support a 

c onclusion that the scheme was extensive . See Reid, 911 F.2d at 

1466. 

While not disputing the extensive nature of the operation, 

Mr. Haran contends that the government did not prove the existence 

of at least one other criminally culpable individual. The court 

in Dietz held that to be otherwise extensive, "the irreducible 

minimum of two[,] the defendant and some other criminally 

responsible participant[]" is required. Dietz, 950 F . 2d at 53. 

Other courts have similarly held that section 3Bl.1 requires proof 

by the government of at least one criminally responsible person in 

addition to the defendant. See United States v. Anderson, 942 

F.2d 606, 616-17 (9th Cir. 1991) (en bane) ; United States v. 

Decicco, 899 F.2d 1531, 1535-37 (7th Cir. 1990); United States v. 

Carroll, 893 F.2d 1502, 1509 (6th Cir. 1990). 

In United States v. West, 942 F.2d 528, 531 n.2 (8th Cir. 

1991) , the court acknowledged the issue but chose not to decide 

it. Similarly, we need not decide this question because the 

culpability of at least one other person is apparent from the 

record in this case. Mr. Haran pled guilty to a charge of 

conspiracy, which by definition must include at least one other 

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Appellate Case: 92-2143 Document: 010110166228 Date Filed: 02/05/1993 Page: 4 
culpable person with whom the defendant has actually conspired. 1 

Assuming without deciding that a second criminally responsible 

person is required for an "otherwise extensive" enhancement, Mr. 

Haran's co-conspirator clearly meets that requirement. The extent 

of the criminal activity here was sufficient to render the 

activity "otherwise extensive" under section 3Bl.l(a) . 

The district court's sentence of Mr. Haran is AFFIRMED. 

The mandate shall issue forthwith. 

Entered for the Court 

Stephanie K. Seymour 

Circuit Judge 

1 For example, 18 U.S.C. § 371, one of the statutes under which 

Mr. Haran was charged, begins "If two or more persons 

conspire .... " 

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