Opinion ID: 564376
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Underlying Conviction and Sentence

Text: 3 In 1982, Mr. Makres pled guilty to five counts of violating 18 U.S.C. Sec. 2314. 1 Mr. Makres forged endorsements on and cashed five checks that he had stolen from his Chicago employer. He cashed four of the checks on May 21, 1982, and the fifth, on May 25, 1982. All five checks were cashed in Greensboro, North Carolina, and were transported in interstate commerce as a result of the normal check clearing process. The prosecution proffered the following factual basis for the indictment at a Rule 11 inquiry: 4 [T]he government would present the testimony of several bank tellers who would testify that the defendant cashed the checks described in the indictment. The government would also introduce bank surveillance photos and films to show that the defendant was the one who cashed those stolen checks. 5 Tr. of Dec. 22, 1982 at 26 (R.77 at A29). Mr. Makres admitted having committed these acts. 6 The district court (Getzendanner, J.) sentenced Mr. Makres to one year of work release on Count One and five years of probation on Counts Two through Five. This lenient sentence was based on the district court's concern about Mr. Makres' potentially suicidal stepson. United States v. Makres, 851 F.2d 1016, 1016 (7th Cir.1988) (affirming revocation of probation and resentencing). Unfortunately, Mr. Makres' odyssey through the legal system did not end there: 7 In May 1985, while serving time at the [Metropolitan Correctional Center] for an unrelated parole violation and while on probation from Judge Getzendanner, Makres failed to return from a furlough. On December 22, 1986, he was arrested in Birmingham, Alabama, and charged with possession of child pornography. The police seized explicit photographs of the defendant engaging in sexual conduct with his minor stepson. 8 Id. at 1017. Mr. Makres also allegedly had passed approximately $117,000 worth of bad checks since May 1985. The district court revoked his probation and resentenced him to consecutive ten-year terms on Counts Two, Three, and Four, as well as a consecutive term of five years' probation on Count Five. This court affirmed. Id. at 1019.