Source: http://openjurist.org/585/f2d/119
Timestamp: 2015-11-28 00:44:44
Document Index: 212868251

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 1014', '§ 1014', '§ 1503', '§ 1014', '§ 1014', '§ 1014', '§ 1014', '§ 1014']

585 F2d 119 United States v. Johnson | OpenJurist
585 F. 2d 119 - United States v. Johnson HomeFederal Reporter, Second Series 585 F.2d.
585 F2d 119 United States v. Johnson 585 F.2d 119
UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee,v.Charles Glenn JOHNSON, Defendant-Appellant.
No. 77-5307.
Nov. 30, 1978.
Robert B. Wallis, Jan Woodward Fox, Houston, Tex., for defendant-appellant.
J. A. Canales, U. S. Atty., Mary L. Sinderson, George A. Kelt, Jr., James R. Gough, Asst. U. S. Attys., Houston, Tex., for plaintiff-appellee.
Before TJOFLAT and HILL, Circuit Judges, and HIGGINBOTHAM,* District Judge:
HIGGINBOTHAM, District Judge:
Defendant Charles Glenn Johnson was indicted on two counts of conspiring to violate 18 U.S.C. § 1014, four counts of violating 18 U.S.C. § 1014 by making false statements to a federal savings and loan institution, and one count of obstructing justice in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1503. After a trial lasting over four weeks in which all alleged co-conspirators except his wife testified against him, the jury found Johnson guilty on all seven counts.1 He was fined $7,000 and sentenced to a total of five years in prison, to be followed by five years' probation. From this judgment, he appeals.
Johnson's complaints fall into three groups. First, he claims that the trial court excluded relevant evidence, preventing a full defense. Second, he contends that there is a variance between the indictment, charging two conspiracies, and the proof, establishing only one. Finally, he urges that his conviction for obstructing justice was based on insufficient evidence and resulted from the trial court's improper jury charge. For the reasons that follow, we reject Johnson's contentions and affirm.
Johnson was an original stockholder in C. J. Limited, Inc. to which he contributed a fully mortgaged piece of property known as Summer Place on Lake Conroe near Houston, Texas. C. J. Limited attempted without success to develop the property in small lots. In the spring of 1975, it changed its sales approach and had the property replatted into approximately 50 tracts of acreage size. When Johnson and his associates were unable to sell any of the larger tracts, they devised a "promotional gimmick" which involved placing tracts in the names of persons who had not actually purchased them in order to create the appearance of genuine sales. These fictional purchasers were assured that the arrangement imposed on them no obligation, including no requirement that they pay for the property.
On July 30, 1975, C. J. Limited sold to federally insured Surety Savings Association 25 real estate note packages, each of which purported to represent the right to the proceeds from legitimate sales by C. J. Limited. These packages were the core of an elaborate hoax, for each actually represented a different "nominee purchaser" arrangement from which C. J. Limited was receiving no note payments. Johnson's participation in this transaction, known as the "first closing" was the subject of the conspiracy alleged in Count I of the indictment. The typical note package sold to Surety contained a real estate lien note, a deed of trust securing the note, a contract of sale between C. J. Limited and the dummy purchaser of land, the notice to the customer of the right to rescind the agreement, a loan application and financial statement, an assignment of lien from C. J. Limited to Surety and an amortization schedule showing the monthly payments due on the real estate note. The false real estate contracts included in these packages formed the basis of Counts IV through VI which charged Johnson with using the documents for the purpose of influencing Surety in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1014.
The individual notes were assigned to Surety by C. J. Limited through an Assignment Agreement which Johnson signed as the corporation's president. In addition, Johnson endorsed each note directly to Surety. Although Recreation World, Inc. and its agent, Larry Parker, acted as broker and received a substantial fee, Surety purchased the packages directly from C. J. Limited.2
As a part of its scheme, C. J. Limited requested and received permission to service the notes, that is, to collect the monthly payments and remit to Surety. For a short while, Johnson or one of his associates purchased cashier's checks showing the alleged purchasers to be remitters. This procedure created an impression that C. J. Limited was receiving monthly payments on behalf of Surety. Johnson also induced Transamerica Title Company, the company that issued the title policies on the 25 alleged real estate transactions, to send the policies and the warranty deeds to him rather than to the "purchasers" who would normally receive these documents.
On September 19, 1975, a "second closing" occurred in which C. J. Limited directly assigned four real estate notes to Surety. Johnson again personally endorsed each of the notes directly to Surety and Parker, representing Recreation World, Inc., was again the broker. This second closing was the subject of Count II, the second conspiracy alleged in the indictment. A false real estate sales contract submitted to Surety in that closing formed the basis of Count VII charging the fourth violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1014.
Surety sent out audit verifications to the alleged purchasers after purchasing the bogus notes. C. J. Limited managed to contact most "purchasers" and obtain their signatures. Unfortunately for Johnson, however, one purchaser returned the verification to Surety with the notation that nothing was known about the matter, precipitating an FBI investigation.
At Johnson's trial, the indicted co-conspirators, Robert W. Jeffrey, John D. Everitt, and Jesse F. Horner, and unindicted co-conspirator, Debbie Boettcher, testified extensively for the government. Jeffrey was a major shareholder of C. J. Limited, and Everitt, Horner, and Boettcher were employees. Before Johnson's trial, Jeffrey, Everitt, and Horner all pled guilty. Each witness confirmed that the note packages sold to Surety were false and fraudulent and that the alleged purchasers never made any down payments or monthly payments. They also testified that Johnson required that a part of the sale proceeds be held in reserve to enable C. J. Limited to simulate monthly payments from lot purchasers to Surety. Deposit slips were "dummied up" to represent receipts from the phony purchasers. Finally, these witnesses stated that although some of the alleged purchasers actually signed some of the documents in the note packages, much of the documentation was forged and none was ever intended to represent a valid obligation.
The witness Boettcher testified that when the Grand Jury investigation began, she was subpoenaed to testify. After receiving her subpoena, she discussed it with Johnson who advised her to consult an attorney. On the way to her lawyer's office and in the presence of the defendant's attorney, Johnson advised Boettcher to tell the truth. That night, however, Johnson who still employed Boettcher, telephoned her and asked that she not tell the Grand Jury anything, especially about who had signed the documents and the real estate packages. Boettcher immediately notified her attorney and, several days after her Grand Jury appearance, she contacted the FBI. Count III of the indictment, charging Johnson with obstruction of justice, is based on this conduct.
Johnson's first argument, that in excluding certain testimony the trial court prevented him from presenting a defense, assumes that the defense he sought to prove is a valid one. He contends that what he calls "complicity" of bank officers and agents renders legal the actions of which he is accused. His argument is based on a two-step interpretation of 18 U.S.C. § 1014: first, the statute requires that a false statement or report be made for the purpose of influencing a savings and loan association; second, Johnson claims that the statement or report must have the capacity to influence the institution. His argument proceeds that if all agents of a savings and loan association who must approve the transaction to which a statement relates actually know that the statement is false, then the statement lacks the capacity to influence the savings and loan.
This facially appealing argument fails close scrutiny, for it misconceives the statute's reach. The relevant portion of 18 U.S.C. § 1014 states:
Whoever knowingly makes any false statement or report . . . for the purpose of influencing in any way the action of . . . any institution, the accounts of which are insured by the Federal Savings Loan Insurance Corporation . . . shall be fined . . . or imprisoned, . . . or both.
The statute represents a consolidation of 13 different sections all containing similar provisions prohibiting the making of false representations to certain banks, agencies, and corporations.3
Courts have construed § 1014 as prohibiting the making of a false statement to a federally insured banking institution, regardless of the statement's impact. The focus of the offense is on the defendant's intent rather than on the victim. United States v. Simmons, 503 F.2d 831, 835 (5th Cir. 1974); United States v. Baity, 489 F.2d 256 (5th Cir. 1973); United States v. Sabatino, 485 F.2d 540 (2nd Cir. 1973). The phrase "for the purpose of influencing In any way " defines the intent required to acco