Case Name: UNITED STATES of America, Appellant, v. Jesse R. HARE, Appellee
Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
Jurisdiction: United States
Decision Date: 1980-04-16
Citations: 618 F.2d 1085
Docket Number: No. 79-5231
Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Appellant, v. Jesse R. HARE, Appellee.
Judges: 
Reporter: Federal Reporter 2d Series
Volume: 618
Pages: 1085–1088

Head Matter:
UNITED STATES of America, Appellant, v. Jesse R. HARE, Appellee.
No. 79-5231.
United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit.
Argued March 7, 1980.
Decided April 16, 1980.
Joseph A. Fisher, III and Theodore S. Greenberg, Asst. U. S. Attys., Alexandria, Va. (Justin W. Williams, U. S. Atty., Alexandria, Va., Alan J. Sobol, Sp. Asst. U. S. Atty., Washington, D.C. and Carrie Schnelker, Student Asst., on brief), for appellant.
Stephen S. Mitchell, Alexandria, Va. (Douglas E. McKinley, McKinley & Schmidtlein, Alexandria, Va., Scott P. Crampton, Bogan & Freeland, Washington, D.C., on brief), for appellee.
Before WINTER, BUTZNER and PHILLIPS, Circuit Judges.

Opinion:
WINTER, Circuit Judge:
Defendant, Jesse Hare, was indicted for violating 18 U.S.C. § 201(g) which makes it unlawful for a public official to receive "anything of valué" because of the performance of an official act. The indictment charges that the defendant, a former Internal Revenue Service Agent, received an $11,000 loan with favorable interest and payment provisions and in a manner designed to conceal the transaction through the efforts of the head of a foundation, after the defendant had concluded an audit recommending that the foundation retain its tax-exempt status. The district court ruled that the prosecution was barred by the five-year statute of limitations and dismissed the indictment. We affirm.
I.
The sole issue before us is the application of the federal five-year statute of limitations, 18 U.S.C. § 3282, to the defendant's alleged crime. The indictment was returned in 1979, and it alleges that the defendant received the loan in 1970. To avoid the manifest bar of the five-year limitation, the government argues that the defendant continued to receive the benefits of the loan (a favorable interest rate, liberal payment provisions, and an absence of late payment penalties) until he paid off the debt in January, 1975. Thus, it is asserted, the defendant received things of value during 1974 and early 1975, within five years prior to the date that the indictment was returned.
The district court rejected this argument, found that the alleged violation of the statute occurred in 1970, and dismissed the indictment against the defendant. We think that the district court acted correctly. In 1970 when the loan was made, defendant received the contractual rights to pay a favorable interest rate, to pay the loan under liberal payment provisions, and to be exempt from late payment penalties. His payment of the loan thereafter was the result of the beneficial concessions he was given through the contract concluded in 1970.
If the government's argument were accepted, the term of the loan would determine the application of the statute of limitations. For example, a twenty-five year loan would permit prosecution under § 201(g) thirty years after the terms of the loan had been fixed and the loan proceeds had been received by the errant public official. Such a result would be contrary to the Supreme Court's admonition in Toussie v. United States, 397 U.S. 112, 90 S.Ct. 858, 25 L.Ed.2d 156 (1970), that federal statutes of limitations should be applied strictly in order to further the congressional policy favoring repose. See also Carroll v. United States, 326 F.2d 72, 85-86 (9 Cir. 1963); United States v. Sloan, 389 F.Supp. 526 (S.D.N.Y.1975).
Therefore, like the district court, we conclude that the statutory period began running when the loan was received by the defendant in 1970, and that the statutory period did not begin to run anew each time the defendant made a payment subject to a favorable interest rate or missed a payment without suffering a late payment penalty.
II.
In its brief and in oral argument before us, the government contends that defendant received additional things of value, besides the conditions of the loan agreement, within the five-year period, namely forebearance on the part of the creditor from initiating remedial legal action after a prolonged series of defaults. This argument does not aid the government in this case, however, because the indictment specified that the receipt of "a loan of $11,000 with favorable interest and payment provisions" was the "anything of value", the receipt of which was in violation of the statute. The indictment did not allege receipt of things of value other than the loan and its favorable terms. Thus, the indictment was based solely on the 1970 loan; and, since we must decide the case on the basis of the facts alleged therein, it was properly dismissed as time-barred. Our holding is thus limited to the facts alleged in the indictment. If the government is aware of other violations of the statute which are not barred by the statute of limitations, defendant may be indicted for violating § 201(g) based on those incidents.
Affirmed.