Opinion ID: 535227
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Disruption of Government Functions

Text: 13 Burns argues that because the record does not indicate that his activities caused any disruption of government functions beyond the disruption which is inherent in the offense, the departure decision was erroneous. He notes that the Commission's policy statement regarding disruption of government functions indicates that unless the circumstances are unusual the guidelines will reflect the appropriate punishment for such interference. Guidelines Sec. 5K2.7. Burns argues that because his crime went undetected for six years and the money he stole was a tiny fraction of AID's budget, his activities could not have caused a significant disruption of government functions. 14 The Guidelines contemplate departure for crimes which significantly disrupt the function of the government. We reject Burns' argument that this was not an appropriate case for such departure. The fact that Burns' crimes went undetected for so long does not indicate that his activities caused little disruption. Rather, the record indicates that he diverted government resources and used federal mechanisms to perpetrate his crimes. Such misuse of the government's vendor payment process is clearly disruptive; it diverts federal resources from legitimate to illegitimate recipients. 15 Although disruption of government functions is an inherent aspect of crimes such as bribery, the Commission's policy statement indicates that when the conviction is theft ... and that theft caused disruption of a government function, departure from the applicable guideline more readily would be appropriate. Guidelines Sec. 5K2.0, p 2. In this case, the trial judge found that Burns' misuse of his position resulted in a disruption of government function beyond that which naturally accompanies diverting resources from legitimate to illegitimate recipients. Burns' manipulation of AID procurement apparatus required the unwitting assistance of many government personnel, who were diverted from their legitimate tasks by the demands of his scheme. The record demonstrates that Burns relied upon clerks to prepare forms necessary to divert government funds, and that his checks to Vincent Kaufman--issued by the United States Treasury--required administrative resources: including time and personnel to process these checks. Burns' illegal use of AID's system of paying its vendors, then, can be readily distinguished from those crimes involving basic theft of government property, such as stealing government supplies. The trial judge's conclusion that Burns' entanglement of two federal departments in his plan constituted disruption of a government function cannot be deemed unreasonable.