Source: http://openjurist.org/956/f2d/341
Timestamp: 2015-04-26 16:14:50
Document Index: 131725069

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 1014', '§ 3', '§ 2', '§ 3', '§ 2', '§ 3', '§ 3', '§ 1', '§ 1', '§ 1', '§ 1', '§ 3', '§ 3']

956 F2d 341 United States v. Gregorio | OpenJurist
956 F. 2d 341 - United States v. Gregorio	Home956 f2d 341 united states v. gregorio
956 F2d 341 United States v. Gregorio 956 F.2d 341
UNITED STATES of America, Appellee,v.William GREGORIO, Defendant, Appellant.
Heard Dec. 2, 1991.Decided Feb. 7, 1992.
Matthew A. Kamholtz with whom Matthew H. Feinberg and Segal & Feinberg, Boston, Mass., were on brief, for defendant, appellant.
William Gregorio appeals the concurrent twelve-month prison terms imposed following his conviction in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts on eleven counts of filing false statements with a federally insured bank in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1014 and 2. We affirm.
Appellant, a real estate broker, pled guilty to eleven counts of filing false residential mortgage loan documents with ComFed Savings Bank ("ComFed"), a federally insured bank, during the period February 1987 to December 1988. The remaining twenty-two counts were dismissed by the government pursuant to the plea agreement. As the purchaser of two of the residences, appellant executed and submitted purchase money loan documents which concealed the information that the properties were encumbered by second mortgages, thereby enabling appellant to obtain financing without the required equity contribution. As to the nine other properties, appellant acted as the real estate broker and arranged for undisclosed second mortgage financing, prepared and executed addenda concealing the second mortgage financing, and forwarded the false documents to ComFed.
On April 8, 1991, appellant was sentenced to serve a concurrent twelve-month prison term under each of the eleven counts of conviction.1 On appeal, Gregorio makes four assignments of sentencing error: (1) the denial of a two-level reduction in the offense level for "acceptance of responsibility," see U.S.S.G. § 3E1.1(a); (2) the two-level enhancement in the offense level for "more than minimal planning," see id. § 2F1.1(b)(2)(A); (3) the denial of a two-level reduction in the offense level for appellant's alleged role as a "minor participant," see id. § 3B1.2(b); and an alleged misapplication of the "downward departure" authorized under U.S.S.G. § 2F1.1, comment. (n. 10).
The district court declined to allow appellant a two-level reduction for acceptance of responsibility under U.S.S.G. § 3E1.1(a), because "[appellant did] not, though he now understands the reach of the law, appreciate the criminality of his conduct nor accepts [sic] his responsibility therefor." Appellant contends that the district court misapplied U.S.S.G. § 3E1.1(a) by focusing on "criminal conduct" with which appellant was not charged. He notes correctly that "the court cannot require the defendant to accept responsibility for some other, uncharged conduct." United States v. O'Neil, 936 F.2d 599 (1st Cir.1991) (emphasis in original). See United States v. Perez-Franco, 873 F.2d 455, 459 (1st Cir.1989). Appellant argues that even though he was only convicted of submitting false statements to ComFed, "the [false] notion that [he] was guilty of bank fraud clearly pervaded the [judge's] thinking and influenced his decision not to [allow] a two level reduction for acceptance of responsibility." Appellant points to a rule 11 hearing colloquy between himself and the court,2 as well as two statements made by the court at sentencing, as evidence that the court was laboring under the misunderstanding that appellant was charged with "bank fraud" and that the court erroneously refused a reduction for acceptance of responsibility because appellant had not accepted responsibility for "bank fraud."3
The record does not support appellant's characterization of the court's sentencing rationale. Not only does the transcript of the sentencing hearing itself dispel any legitimate doubt that the court was well aware that appellant was charged with making false statements to a federally insured bank, but the rule 11 plea hearing transcript does so as well. The one arguably errant reference to "bank fraud" was promptly corrected. Moreover, the two "fraud" references the court made during the sentencing hearing cannot be considered error in a case involving the making of "false statements."4 Under no fair reading of the record could it be determined that the district court misunderstood the true nature of the charges against appellant.
Appellant next challenges the two-level enhancement for "more than minimal planning," which we review for clear error. United States v. Strickland, 941 F.2d 1047, 1050 (10th Cir.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 112 S.Ct. 614, 116 L.Ed.2d 636 (1991). See United States v. Preakos, 907 F.2d 7, 9 (1st Cir.1990) ("district court's fact-based application of the guidelines [reviewed] only for clear error").
The commentary to U.S.S.G. § 1B1.1 states that " '[m]ore than minimal planning' is deemed present in any case involving repeated acts over a period of time, unless it is clear that each instance was purely opportune." U.S.S.G. § 1B1.1, comment. n. 1(f) (emphasis added). As appellant concedes that the numerous false statements made in connection with the eleven loans ComFed approved over a twenty-two month period constituted "repeated acts," we limit our inquiry to whether the district court committed clear error in determining that appellant's false statements were not "purely opportune." Without venturing an arbitrary determination as to how many false statements are required to demonstrate "more than minimal planning," cf. United States v. Fox, 889 F.2d 357, 361 (1st Cir.1989) ("We cannot conceive of how obtaining even one fraudulent loan would not require more than minimal planning.") (dicta) (emphasis added), we conclude without hesitation that the district court did not commit clear error in finding that appellant's repeated preparation and submission of false statements did not constitute "spur of the moment" conduct. See id. Each of the eleven loan transactions entailed several steps: arranging for the mortgage financing; concealing the second mortgage financing in the first mortgage loan documents; and submitting the first mortgage loan documents to ComFed. We hold, therefore, that the evidence demonstrated a degree of deliberate planning inconsistent with "purely opportune" conduct. See U.S.S.G. § 1B1.1, comment. n. 1(f). The two-level enhancement under U.S.S.G. § 1B1.1 did not constitute error.
C. Minor Role in Offense
Appellant contends that he should have received a two-level reduction for his role as a "minor participant" in the offenses of conviction. See U.S.S.G. § 3B1.2(b). Since the sentencing court's assessment of a defendant's role in the offense is "heavily dependent on the facts of the particular case," see id., comment. (backg'd), it is not to be set aside on appeal unless clearly erroneous. United States v. Rosado-Sierra, 938 F.2d 1, 1-2 (1st Cir.1991) (per curiam); United States v. Ocasio, 914 F.2d 330, 333 (1st Cir.1990); United States v. Wright, 873 F.2d 437, 443-440 (1st Cir.1989). The defendant must make the threshold showing, Rosado-Sierra, 938 F.2d at 1; Ocasio, 914 F.2d at 332, that he is "substantially less culpable than the average participant." U.S.S.G. § 3B1.2, comment. (backg'd).
Appellant describes himself as an "incautious foot soldier" in the "ComFed debacle." He argues that since he was "surely at the bottom of the hierarchy" in the extensive web of fraud which led to ComFed's demise, he must be considered a "minor" participant. Appellant's insistent focus on the wider web of fraud--the "ComFed debacle"--rather than the particular offenses for which he was sentenced, ignores controlling caselaw authority that "[r]ole-in-the-offense adjustments depend ... not only on the comparative con