[DO NOT PUBLISH]

IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT

________________________ No. 19

- 11335 Non

- Argument Calendar

________________________ D.C. Docket No. 8:18

- cr - 00511

- SDM

- JSS

- 2
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff

- Appellee,
versus FRANKLIN RAFAEL LOPEZ TOA LA, Defendant

- Appellant.

________________________ Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida

________________________ (March 31, 2020) Before WIL LIAM PRYOR , MARTIN and LAGOA , Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM:

Case: 19-11335 Date Filed: 03/31/2020 Page: 1 of 42 Franklin Rafael Lopez

- Toala appeals his sentence of 108 months of imprisonment for conspir ing to possess and for possessing with intent to distribute five kilograms or more of a mixture and substa nce containing a detectable amount of cocaine while aboard a vessel subject to United States jurisdiction
. 21 U.S.C. § 960(b)(1)(B)(ii) ; 4 6 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 , ” U nited S tates S entencing G uidelines Manual § 3B1.2(b) & cmt. n.5 (20 18 ) , and his “ part in committing the offense
. . . makes him substantially less c ulpable than the average participant in the criminal activity ,” id. § 3B1.2 cmt. 3(A)
. T he facts in Lopez

- Toala’s presentence investigation report, to which he did not object, support the finding s 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 crewmat es received $5,000 in advance to transpor t 331 kilograms of cocaine from Ecuador to Mexic o . Lopez

- Toala shared

Case: 19-11335 Date Filed: 03/31/2020 Page: 2 of 43 responsibility wit h Ramon Zambrano to relieve the pilot , Eddy Mera. Lopez

- Toala also shared in whatever tasks were required to make the voyage su ccessful and obtain additional compensation, and he assist ed Mera in throw ing the cargo overboard when the Coast Guard disable d the boat . That Mera expected more compensation than his crewmates after they completed delivery of the cocaine and that he possi bly shouldered more responsibility as the pilot did not make Lopez

Toala ’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 Lopez

Toala to two concurrent t erm s at the low end of his advisory guideline s range of 108 to 135 months of imp risonment . The district court reasonably determined that sentence s of 108 months w ere necessary to pun ish Lopez

- Toala for his role in the “large

- scale transoceanic importation of a large quantity of high

- purity cocaine” and for en danger ing law enforcement who had to use deadly force to intercept the boat and t o re cover packages of drugs from the ocean , to prevent Lopez

- Toala f

rom 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). T he district court also reasonably

Case: 19-11335 Date Filed: 03/31/2020 Page: 3 of 44 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.

Case: 19-11335 Date Filed: 03/31/2020 Page: 4 of 4