[DO NOT PUBLISH]

IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT

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No. 19-11335

Non-Argument Calendar

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D.C. Docket No. 8:18-cr-00511-SDM-JSS-2

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 

 Plaintiff-Appellee,

 versus

FRANKLIN RAFAEL LOPEZ TOALA, 

 Defendant-Appellant.

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Appeal from the United States District Court

for the Middle District of Florida

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(March 31, 2020)

Before WILLIAM PRYOR, MARTIN and LAGOA, Circuit Judges.

PER CURIAM: 

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Franklin Rafael Lopez-Toala appeals his sentence of 108 months of 

imprisonment for conspiring to possess and for possessing with intent to distribute

five kilograms or more of a mixture and substance containing a detectable amount 

of cocaine while aboard a vessel subject to United States jurisdiction. 21 U.S.C. 

§ 960(b)(1)(B)(ii); 46 U.S.C. §§ 70503(a), 70506(a), (b). Lopez-Toala challenges 

the denial of his request for a reduction for a minor role and the substantive 

reasonableness of his sentence. We affirm.

The district court did not clearly err by denying Lopez-Toala a minor role 

reduction. A defendant may obtain a two-level reduction of his offense level if the 

facts establish that he “is less culpable than most other participants, but [his] role 

could not be described as minimal,” United States Sentencing Guidelines Manual

§ 3B1.2(b) & cmt. n.5 (2018), and his “part in committing the offense . . . makes 

him substantially less culpable than the average participant in the criminal 

activity,” id. § 3B1.2 cmt. 3(A). The facts in Lopez-Toala’s presentence 

investigation report, to which he did not object, support the findings of the district 

court that his role was not minor and that he was no less culpable than most of his 

crewmates. See United States v. Wade, 458 F.3d 1273, 1277 (11th Cir. 2006) (“[A] 

failure to object to allegations of fact in a PSI admits those facts for sentencing 

purposes.”). Lopez-Toala and his two crewmates received $5,000 in advance to 

transport 331 kilograms of cocaine from Ecuador to Mexico. Lopez-Toala shared 

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responsibility with Ramon Zambrano to relieve the pilot, Eddy Mera. Lopez-Toala

also shared in whatever tasks were required to make the voyage successful and 

obtain additional compensation, and he assisted Mera in throwing the cargo 

overboard when the Coast Guard disabled the boat. That Mera expected more 

compensation than his crewmates after they completed delivery of the cocaine and 

that he possibly shouldered more responsibility as the pilot did not make LopezToala’s role minor. See United States v. Valois, 915 F.3d 717, 732 (11th Cir.), cert. 

denied, 140 S. Ct. 263 (2019). Lopez-Toala played a key role in ensuring that the 

conspiracy delivered the cocaine.

The district court also did not abuse its discretion when it sentenced LopezToala to two concurrent terms at the low end of his advisory guidelines range of 

108 to 135 months of imprisonment. The district court reasonably determined that 

sentences of 108 months were necessary to punish Lopez-Toala for his role in the 

“large-scale transoceanic importation of a large quantity of high-purity cocaine”

and for endangering law enforcement who had to use deadly force to intercept the 

boat and to recover packages of drugs from the ocean, to prevent Lopez-Toala 

from committing similar future crimes, and to protect the public from the danger 

created by the importation of illegal drugs. See 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a)(1), (2). And 

the district court verified that Lopez-Toala’s sentence was consistent with those 

imposed on other crewmen. See id. § 3553(a)(6). The district court also reasonably 

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decided that the “especially serious” nature of Lopez-Toala’s offense outweighed 

his arguments for a lesser sentence based on his background in the military, recent 

unemployment, lack of a criminal history, and familial financial obligations. See 

United States v. Amedeo, 487 F.3d 823, 832–33 (11th Cir. 2007). Lopez-Toala’s 

sentence, which is well below his maximum statutory penalty of imprisonment for 

life, is reasonable. See United States v. Dougherty, 754 F.3d 1353, 1362 (11th Cir. 

2014).

We AFFIRM Lopez-Toala’s sentence.

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