UNPUBLISHED

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

Plaintiff-Appellee,

v. No. 98-4077

CHUCK FARRIS,

Defendant-Appellant.

Appeal from the United States District Court

for the District of South Carolina, at Greenville.

Henry M. Herlong, Jr., District Judge.

(CR-97-374)

Submitted: July 14, 1998

Decided: July 31, 1998

Before LUTTIG and MOTZ, Circuit Judges, and

PHILLIPS, Senior Circuit Judge.

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Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

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COUNSEL

O. W. Bannister, Jr., HILL, WYATT & BANNISTER, L.L.P., Greenville, South Carolina, for Appellant. J. Rene Josey, United States

Attorney, David C. Stephens, Assistant United States Attorney,

Greenville, South Carolina, for Appellee.

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Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit. See

Local Rule 36(c).

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OPINION

PER CURIAM:

Chuck Farris appeals his conviction for bank fraud in violation of

18 U.S.C. § 1344 (1994). The sole issue he raises on appeal is

whether the district court abused its discretion in admitting evidence

that he received a check for $83,000 that was not part of the bank

fraud scheme giving rise to his conviction. Finding no abuse of discretion, we affirm.

On November 13, 1996, Chuck Farris, the owner and general manager of Temple Construction Company ("Temple"), instructed Lisa

Cothran, a Temple employee, to deposit a check for $156,811 drawn

on Temple's Branch Banking and Trust ("BB&T") account into Temple's account at NationsBank. At the time of this transaction Temple

had insufficient funds in its BB&T account to cover the check. The

next day Cothran, at Farris' request, drew a check for $152,003 on

Temple's NationsBank account and used the check to purchase a

cashiers' check for that same amount from a different NationsBank

branch. The cashiers check was then deposited into Temple's BB&T

account. A few days later the BB&T check presented to NationsBank

of November 13th was returned by BB&T for insufficient funds. Officers from NationsBank then contacted Farris in an attempt to get back

the $152,003 that NationsBank had given Temple for the worthless

BB&T check. Farris agreed that Temple owed NationsBank the

money but neither he nor Temple ever repaid NationsBank in full.

At trial the government introduced evidence that Farris received a

loan reimbursement check from Temple for $83,000 on December 16,

1996. Farris alleges that the district court erred in admitting this evidence under Fed. R. Evid. 403 and 404(b). A district court's evidentiary rulings are entitled to substantial deference and will not be

reversed absent a clear abuse of discretion. Sasaki v. Class, 92 F.3d

232, 241 (4th Cir. 1996). The district court's decision to admit evi-

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dence of other crimes, wrongs, or acts under Rule 404(b) will only be

overturned if "arbitrary or irrational." United States v. Haney, 914

F.2d 602, 607 (4th Cir. 1990). Such evidence may be admitted if relevant to "proof of motive, opportunity, intent, preparation, plan,

knowledge, identity, or absence of mistake or accident." Fed. R. Evid.

404(b). The rule is inclusive and admits all evidence of other crimes

or acts which is necessary and reliable, and relevant to an issue other

than character. United States v. Rawle, 845 F.2d 1244, 1247 (4th Cir.

1988); United States v. Masters, 622 F.2d 83, 85 (4th Cir. 1980).

Even if the evidence meets these criteria, its probative value must be

weighed against it prejudicial effect under Rule 403. Rawle, 845 F.2d

at 1247.

Farris contends that his receipt of a check for $83,000 on December 16th was unrelated to the events for which he was on trial,

unfairly attacked his character, and prejudiced him in suggesting to

the jury that he was making money while NationsBank lost money.

Farris is correct in his assertion that his receipt of the check is evidence of conduct extrinsic to his alleged bank fraud activities. However, Rule 404(b) allows for the admission of acts extrinsic to the

charged conduct to show motive. We find that the contested evidence

was admissible under Rule 404(b) to show that Farris had a motive

to commit bank fraud on Temple's behalf. Despite Temple's chronic

cash flow problem, Farris was making a substantial amount of money

working for Temple and thus had an incentive to ensure that Temple

stayed in business. We further find that the probative value of the evidence was not substantially outweighed by any danger of undue prejudice. Accordingly, the district court acted within its discretion in

allowing the government to introduce evidence that Temple gave Farris a loan reimbursement check for $83,000.*

We therefore affirm Farris' conviction. We dispense with oral

argument because the facts and legal contentions are adequately pre-

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*In his brief Farris notes that the district court admitted the evidence

as relevant to show that Farris' check kiting activities were not the result

of a mistake, and that Farris had money to pay NationsBank back if he

had wanted to do so. This Court, however, may affirm judgments on

alternative grounds to those relied upon by the district court. See

Dandridge v. Williams, 397 U.S. 471, 475-76 n.6 (1970).

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sented in the materials before the court and argument would not aid

the decisional process.

AFFIRMED

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