Opinion ID: 652795
Heading Depth: 5
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Rita Mays.

Text: 8 Rita Mays testified that Steward approached her in December 1986 and asked whether she needed additional income. Mays said she did. In January 1987, Mays received through the mail a Social Security check, payable to her, for about $2,700.00. Mays then telephoned Steward and the two agreed that Mays would keep $400.00 dollars and give the remaining money to Steward. Mays received four more Social Security checks over the next seventeen months. The first of the four checks, which was roughly $2,900.00 in amount, was split between Mays and Steward evenly. The next check, which was nearly in the same amount, was divided differently. Rather than an equal split, Steward demanded that an initial $500.00 be paid to a friend of hers, described as Lynn, who would purportedly destroy the canceled checks at the Social Security Administration. Mays paid Steward the $500.00 for Lynn and then split the remaining amount evenly with Steward. Mays divided the final two checks, which were in the approximate amounts of $2,900.00 and $1,600.00, with Steward in the same three-way manner as they had done with the earlier check. After Mays had received the last check in May 1988, Steward called and instructed her not to speak with anyone who inquired about the checks. Apparently Lynn did not exist, because none of the spurious Social Security checks were destroyed after they had been cashed. The government introduced the five Social Security checks into evidence at trial. 9