Document ID: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-ca3-09-01354/USCOURTS-ca3-09-01354-0/pdf.json

Parties Involved:
Michael Kyereme
Appellant
United States of America
Appellee

Document Text:

NOT PRECEDENTIAL

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT

 

No. 09-1354

 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

v.

MICHAEL KYEREME, AKA Michael Appiahkyeremeh, AKA Appakyeremeh

MICHAEL KYEREME,

Appellant

 

Appeal from the United States District Court

for the District of New Jersey

(D.C. Criminal Action No. 2-08-cr-00469-001)

District Judge: Honorable Katharine S. Hayden

 

Submitted Under Third Circuit LAR 34.1(a)

March 11, 2010

 

Before: AMBRO, SMITH and ALDISERT, Circuit Judges

(Opinion filed: March 23, 2010)

 

OPINION

 

AMBRO, Circuit Judge 

Michael Kyereme pled guilty to mail fraud and tax evasion in July 2008. He now

challenges the District Court’s sentence of 59 months’ imprisonment, arguing that the

Case: 09-1354 Document: 003110070247 Page: 1 Date Filed: 03/23/2010
 The District Court had jurisdiction under 18 U.S.C. § 3231. We have jurisdiction 1

pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3742. 

2

District Court erred in applying a two-level upward adjustment under § 3B1.3 of the

Sentencing Guidelines. We affirm.1

I.

Kyereme was an independent contractor hired to provide information technology

(“IT”) support to the City of Newark, New Jersey. As an independent contractor,

Kyereme assisted Newark employees with computer-related problems. When Kyereme

could not resolve a computer problem, he was authorized to communicate with Cisco

Systems, Inc. (“Cisco”) for additional technical assistance and, if necessary, to request

replacement parts for the City’s computers.

From 2002 through 2007, Kyereme falsely reported to Cisco that large numbers of

computer parts were malfunctioning and required replacement. When Cisco sent

replacement parts, however, Kyereme failed to return many of the allegedly inoperable

parts. When he did return parts to Cisco, they were different Cisco parts or parts from

other computer companies, all of which were of lesser value than the replacement parts. 

Kyereme sold the fraudulently obtained Cisco parts to computer resellers outside of New

Jersey. His fraudulent scheme resulted in losses to Cisco of more than $4,000,000. 

In July 2008, Kyereme pled guilty to one count of mail fraud (in violation of 18

U.S.C. § 1341) and one count of tax evasion (in violation of 26 U.S.C. § 7201). The

District Court determined that Kyereme’s offense level was 25, which included a twoCase: 09-1354 Document: 003110070247 Page: 2 Date Filed: 03/23/2010
 The District Court determined that the two-level upward adjustment was also 2

warranted because Kyereme “abused a position of public or private trust.” U.S.S.G.

§ 3B1.3. Because we agree that he used a special skill to facilitate significantly the

commission and/or concealment of his crimes, we need not address this alternative basis

for the § 3B1.3 adjustment.

The District Court also denied Kyereme’s request that the mail fraud and tax

evasion counts be grouped pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 3D1.2(c). He does not challenge that

ruling on appeal. 

3

level upward adjustment pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 3B1.3 because Kyereme “used a special

skill[] in a manner that significantly facilitated the commission or concealment of the

offense[.]” With a criminal history of category I, his Guidelines range was 57 to 71 2

months’ imprisonment. The Court sentenced Kyereme to 59 months’ imprisonment, and

he timely appealed.

II.

Although the Sentencing Guidelines are now advisory, district courts must still

correctly calculate the Guidelines range at the first step of our Court’s post-Booker

sentencing procedure. See United States v. Gunter, 462 F.3d 237, 247 (3d Cir. 2006). 

“[A] sentencing court is required to make two findings before imposing an upward

adjustment for use of a special skill [under U.S.S.G. § 3B1.3]: ‘(1) the defendant

possesses a special skill; and (2) . . . used it to significantly facilitate the commission or

concealment of the offense.’” United States v. Bond, 581 F.3d 128, 140 (3d Cir. 2009)

(quoting United States v. Batista De La Cruz, 460 F.3d 466, 468 (3d Cir. 2006)) (second

alteration in original). We review a district court’s interpretation of the Guidelines de

novo, including whether a defendant possesses a “special skill” within the meaning of

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4

§ 3B1.3. See United States v. Urban, 140 F.3d 229, 234 (3d Cir. 1998). We review a

district court’s finding that a defendant used a special skill “in a manner that significantly

facilitated the commission or concealment of the offense” for clear error. See Bond, 581

F.3d at 141; Batista De La Cruz, 460 F.3d at 468.

III.

First, we agree that Kyereme has a “special skill” within the meaning of § 3B1.3. 

See U.S.S.G. § 3B1.3 cmt. n.1 (a “special skill” is one “not possessed by members of the

general public and usually requir[es] substantial education, training or licensing”). 

Kyereme holds an undergraduate degree in information systems, a masters of science

degree, and an MBA. He has completed numerous computer and network training

courses, and holds several professional licenses, including certifications as a Cisco

Network Associate and a Microsoft Systems Engineer. Finally, Kyereme has been

employed in the IT field since 1991, including as a computer engineer, project manager,

IT manager, senior engineer, network engineer, and implementation engineer. See

Urban, 140 F.3d at 236 (section 3B1.3 is “applicable to a person who has developed a

special skill through . . . his or her work experience”). Thus, contrary to Kyereme’s

suggestion, his knowledge of computers and systems management cannot be equated with

that of a typical computer user. Cf. United States v. Lee, 296 F.3d 792, 794–95, 799 (9th

Cir. 2002) (defendant who created an internet website to obtain registration fees for a

phony event did not possess a “special skill,” where the defendant simply copied and

pasted “scripts” from a legitimate website to create the phony website). 

Case: 09-1354 Document: 003110070247 Page: 4 Date Filed: 03/23/2010
5

Kyereme’s central complaint is that he did not “use[]” a special skill “in a manner

that significantly facilitated the commission or concealment of the offense.” U.S.S.G.

§ 3B1.3. In particular, he notes that (1) he did not identify himself as a Certified Cisco

Network Associate when he requested replacement computer parts (thus, Cisco

purportedly did not rely on his certification in approving the shipments of replacement

parts); and (2) he typically used email, “the most rudimentary computer skill,” to request

replacement parts from Cisco. Accordingly, Kyereme contends that any City of Newark

employee could have committed a similar fraudulent scheme, regardless of his or her

technical knowledge of Cisco’s products. 

We disagree. As the District Court found, Kyereme’s technical knowledge of

computers and Cisco products significantly facilitated his crimes by: (1) making his

requests for replacement parts credible (e.g., by using technical language to describe

fabricated problems with computer parts); and (2) allowing him to identify the types of

parts that “might routinely break down” and to “group parts that are breaking down,” thus

avoiding suspicion by Cisco. The fact that Kyereme communicated with Cisco by email,

and that he did not identify himself as a Certified Cisco Network Associate when

requesting replacement parts, even cumulatively does not render the Court’s findings

clearly erroneous. As Cisco’s representative testified at sentencing, to become certified

as a Cisco Network Associate, an individual must pass examinations to “demonstrate a

level of technical proficiency with [Cisco] products,” including their configuration and

design. And, as the Court explained, Kyereme’s familiarity with and technical

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For example, in one email request to Cisco, Kyereme wrote: “Problem Details: 3

7600-SIP-600 not responding/dead. Has been deactivated/reactivated and even reseated. 

6513 chasi has also been rebooted still no good need RMA.” As a Cisco representative

testified at sentencing, she understood this message to indicate that Kyereme had already

taken steps to troubleshoot the problem (to no avail, of course, thus necessitating a

replacement part).

6

knowledge of Cisco products “permitted him to talk the talk and be afforded the

credibility he was afforded by Cisco personnel,” thereby facilitating the commission and

concealment of his fraud.3

For the foregoing reasons, we affirm Kyereme’s sentence. 

Case: 09-1354 Document: 003110070247 Page: 6 Date Filed: 03/23/2010