Opinion ID: 204000
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Denial of motion to dismiss Count 5 as time-barred

Text: Bucci moved for the dismissal of the second superseding indictment's fifth count, arguing that it was time-barred. Because the pertinent facts are undisputed, this court reviews de novo the district court's decision to deny that motion. See United States v. DeLeon, 444 F.3d 41, 51 (1st Cir.2006). The relevant statute of limitations, 18 U.S.C. § 3282(a), provides that [e]xcept as otherwise provided by law, no person shall be prosecuted, tried, or punished for any offense, not capital, unless the indictment is found or the information is instituted within five years next after such offense shall have been committed. Ordinarily the limitation period begins to run when the crime is complete, see Toussie v. United States, 397 U.S. 112, 115, 90 S.Ct. 858, 25 L.Ed.2d 156 (1970), and the parties do not argue otherwise here. The fifth count of the second superseding indictment charged that Bucci, [o]n or about July 28, 2000 ... did knowingly and intentionally engage in a monetary transaction in property derived from specified unlawful activity-to wit: the deposit of approximately $222,179.88 into his Checking Account... at First Massachusetts Bank ... with proceeds derived from the sale of controlled substances. All in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1957. [4] The Government filed the second superseding indictment on July 28, 2005, exactly five years to the day after the charged offense. But the parties agree that Bucci actually submitted the deposit at issue to the bank after 2:30 p.m. on July 27, 2000. The bank did not credit that deposit to Bucci's account until the next business day, July 28. The question presented in this case, then, is when was this charged offense complete: when Bucci submitted the deposit on July 27 or when the bank credited Bucci's account on July 28. The parties do not cite, and we have not found, any authority addressing this exact question. In resolving this question, we look to the relevant language of § 1957(a). The statute proscribes knowingly engaging in a monetary transaction. The transaction at issue here was the deposit of funds. Pursuant to the express terms of the bank's policy, of which the bank informed Bucci, a submission of funds to the bank after 2:00 p.m. would not be deposited into the depositor's account until the following business day. Thus, Bucci did not engage in this monetary transaction until July 28, 2000, and the indictment charging this offense was, therefore, timely filed.