Opinion ID: 1085639
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Manuel’s Repeated Violations of the Terms of

Text: Supervised Release In December 2008, Manuel was released from prison and commenced his term of supervised release. On June 15, 2009, the Eastern District of Pennsylvania accepted a transfer of jurisdiction over Manuel’s supervised release from the Eastern District of Virginia pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3605. Between 2009 and 2011, 5 Manuel repeatedly violated the conditions of his supervised release by, among other things, failing numerous drug tests. After a revocation hearing on March 10, 2011, the District Court revoked Manuel’s supervised release and imposed a sentence of two concurrent terms of eight months in prison, followed by two concurrent terms of twenty-four months of supervised release. On October 24, 2011, Manuel was released from prison and commenced his second term of supervised release. On November 2, 2011 and February 6, 2012, Manuel again submitted urine specimens that tested positive for cocaine. Additionally, during a routine home visit on February 7, 2012, Manuel’s probation officer discovered flyers advertising a debt-reduction seminar that Manuel had organized, which constituted a violation of the conditions of Manuel’s supervised release barring him from engaging in self-employment and participating in employment where he would have access to personal or financial information. To address these ongoing drug violations, the District Court modified the conditions of Manuel’s supervised release and ordered him to reside in a residential reentry center for a period of 120 days. While confined to the residential reentry center, Manuel continued to commit additional loan fraud offenses. A victim, Kathryn Williams (“Williams”), reported to Manuel’s parole officer, Kyle Watts (“Watts”), that in 6 April 2012, Manuel had recruited her to participate in an organization called the “Women’s Opportunity Organization,” which he claimed was created to provide financial assistance to single women, and had convinced Williams to give him $500 for membership in another organization, the “NEMA Financial Empowerment Association,” in exchange for the promise to secure a $300,000 home loan for her. See Report of Violation of Supervised Release dated June 11, 2012, Supplemental Appendix 28–29. Additionally, Watts learned that, on or around May 24, 2012, Manuel solicited other residents of the reentry center to pay money to one of his organizations and promised these residents that in return they would receive profits and assistance with debt reduction, restructuring mortgages, and obtaining and refinancing home loans. Id. at Supplemental Appendix 30.