Document ID: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-ca8-05-01499/USCOURTS-ca8-05-01499-0/pdf.json

Parties Involved:
Jacqueline J. Ahlers
Appellant
United States of America
Appellee

Document Text:

United States Court of Appeals

FOR THE EIGHTH CIRCUIT

___________

No. 05-1499

___________

United States of America, *

*

 Appellee, *

* Appeal From the United States

v. * District Court for the

* Northern District of Iowa.

Jacqueline J. Ahlers, also known as *

Jackie Ahlers, also known as * [UNPUBLISHED]

Jacqueline Schoenauer, also known *

as Jackie Schoenauer, *

*

Appellant. *

___________

Submitted: November 14, 2005

Filed: November 17, 2005

___________

Before SMITH, HEANEY, and BENTON, Circuit Judges.

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PER CURIAM.

Pursuant to a plea agreement, Jacqueline J. Ahlers pled guilty to making

materially false declarations before a grand jury or court, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §

1623. She was sentenced to a term of fifteen months in prison, to be followed by two

years of supervised release. The sole issue raised in this appeal is whether the district

Appellate Case: 05-1499 Page: 1 Date Filed: 11/17/2005 Entry ID: 1975791
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The Honorable Linda R. Reade, United States District Judge for the Northern

District of Iowa.

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court1

 erred in imposing a three-level enhancement based on its finding that Ahlers’s

offense substantially interfered with the administration of justice. We affirm.

The conduct giving rise to Ahlers’s conviction surrounded an investigation into

the finances of Robert Frank. Frank was obligated to pay a large fine and restitution

due to a prior conviction. Unwilling to do so, he sought to conceal his assets from the

government. Ahlers, together with her husband, Lorin Ahlers, and Kim Welch,

Frank’s girlfriend, assisted Frank in this endeavor.

Eventually, the government instituted grand jury proceedings regarding Frank’s

attempt to avoid his financial obligations. Ahlers was called to testify, and was

untruthful before the grand jury and in further court proceedings, including Frank’s

trial. She testified that Frank had given one of his vehicles, a 1954 Chevrolet

Corvette, to her husband years ago, and that her husband had sold the car and

collected the proceeds. In actuality, Frank owned and sold the vehicle himself, and

had convinced Ahlers to lie for his benefit.

At Ahlers’s sentencing proceeding, the government called Jeff McGuire, a

special agent with the criminal investigation division of the Internal Revenue Service.

McGuire testified that he was involved in the investigation of Frank’s attempt to

avoid paying his financial obligations. He stated that Ahlers’s failure to testify

truthfully at the grand jury proceedings impeded his investigation, forcing the

government to seek out additional witnesses and documentary evidence to

substantiate its theory that Frank was concealing his finances. According to

McGuire, when Ahlers and Welch testified falsely about Frank’s financial dealings,

it complicated what could have been a simple investigation, and forced McGuire to

pursue a more exhaustive and arduous one.

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Given the above testimony, we find no clear error in the district court’s

imposition of a three-level enhancement due to Ahlers’s substantial interference with

the administration of justice. United States v. Plumley, 207 F.3d 1086, 1093 (8th Cir.

2000) (standard of review); USSG § 2J1.3(b)(2) (calling for a three-level increase in

the defendant’s offense level “[i]f the [offense] resulted in substantial interference

with the administration of justice”). The commentary to the guidelines defines

“substantial interference with the administration of justice” to include false statements

which lead to “the unnecessary expenditure of substantial governmental or court

resources.” USSG § 2J1.3, comment. (n.1). Ahlers’s falsehoods resulted in the

government expending substantial additional resources to ascertain whether and to

what extent Frank was concealing his assets from the government. As such, the

enhancement was appropriate, and we affirm its application to Ahlers’s case.

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Appellate Case: 05-1499 Page: 3 Date Filed: 11/17/2005 Entry ID: 1975791