Opinion ID: 782729
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Hilts' Participation.

Text: 45 Finally, we address Hilts' specific challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence to support his conviction on Count I. Count I charged the substantive crime of wire fraud, 18 U.S.C. § 1343, and the adjunct crime of aiding and abetting wire fraud, 18 U.S.C. § 2. 7 Pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 2, one who aids or abets the commission of an offense is punishable as a principal. We have held that [a] defendant is guilty of aiding and abetting if he has knowingly associated himself with and participated in the criminal venture. United States v. Burgos, 94 F.3d 849, 873 (4th Cir.1996) ( en banc ) (internal quotation marks omitted). Significantly, in order to be convicted of aiding and abetting, participation in every stage of an illegal venture is not required, only participation at some stage accompanied by knowledge of the result and intent to bring about the result. Id. (internal quotation marks and alteration marks omitted). Of particular relevance here, to be convicted of aiding and abetting a wire fraud offense, it is not necessary for the defendant to be directly or personally involved in the wire communication as long as the wire communication was reasonably foreseeable to the defendant in the execution of the alleged scheme to defraud in which the defendant is accused of participating. United States v. Griffith, 17 F.3d 865, 874 (6th Cir.1994). 46 The specific interstate communication charged as the basis for Count I was a telephone call from David Pasquantino in Niagara Falls, New York, to Valley Wine and Spirits in Hagerstown, Maryland, on March 9, 1999. David's brother Carl was also charged as a participant in the wire fraud scheme set forth in Count I. According to the indictment, the wire fraud scheme to defraud Canada and the Province of Ontario of excise duties and other taxes as charged in Count I began in or about March 1997 and lasted until the date of indictment, April 13, 2000. 47 Hilts primarily challenges the sufficiency of the evidence to establish that he knowingly and willfully participated in the wire fraud scheme charged in Count I with knowledge of its fraudulent nature. He claims that his conduct in picking up the large loads of liquor from the various discount liquor stores in Maryland was completely innocent, and points out that there is no evidence that he ever picked up any liquor from Valley Wine and Spirits nor any evidence linking him to the telephone call charged as the basis for Count I. 48 The government's theory at trial was that Hilts participated in the wire fraud scheme charged in Count I as a pick up and delivery driver with knowledge that the liquor he was handling would ultimately be smuggled into Canada without paying Canada or the Province of Ontario the applicable taxes. We hold the evidence in the record is sufficient to sustain Hilts' conviction on Count I. Viewed in the light most favorable to the government, the evidence in the record shows that, between February 27, 1997 and April 22, 1998, Hilts rented a Ryder truck in Niagara Falls, New York, from the same business (Gaines Sunoco), on average every two weeks; traveled in the truck between 738 and 978 miles (usually around 815 miles); and returned the truck the very next day. Hilts resumed almost the identical pattern of behavior in November 1998 and continued it until April 28, 1999, when, after detecting that he was under surveillance by ATF agents from the time he had left BJ's liquor store in Maryland until he had arrived in upstate New York, Hilts abandoned the Ryder truck that he had rented the day before on the side of the road. At the time that Hilts abandoned the truck, it contained 222 cases of liquor. Prior to abandoning the truck, Hilts successfully made several evasive driving maneuvers in order to escape the surveillance. 49 The record also shows that during these same time periods, Hilts used the rented trucks to pick up large bulk orders of liquor from two different Maryland liquor stores (neither of them Valley Wine and Spirits) for Carl Pasquantino. 8 The record also shows that from September 23, 1998 to April 9, 1999, a vehicle registered to Hilts made thirty-nine trips from Niagara Falls, New York across the Rainbow Bridge into the Canadian Province of Ontario. However, such trips ceased completely after Hilts abandoned the Ryder rental truck on April 28, 1999. 50 Viewing the evidence just recited in the light most favorable to the government, we hold that a reasonable finder of fact could accept such evidence as adequate and sufficient to support a conclusion beyond a reasonable doubt that Hilts knowingly participated at various stages in the wire fraud scheme charged in Count I with knowledge that the liquor he was transporting would ultimately be smuggled into Canada without paying Canada or the Province of Ontario the applicable taxes due on such liquor. The fact that Hilts abandoned the liquor laden rental truck after detecting surveillance by ATF agents during a liquor run from Maryland to New York is strong evidence of his criminal intent. The same goes for his evasive driving maneuvers and the fact that his own vehicle did not cross the Rainbow Bridge after April 28, 1999. Furthermore, the mere fact that Hilts did not personally make the telephone call that is specifically alleged in Count I is of no import. The evidence supports a reasonable inference that the March 9, 1999 telephone call by David Pasquantino to Valley Wine & Spirits was reasonably foreseeable to Hilts in the execution of the fraudulent scheme alleged in Count I. Griffith, 17 F.3d at 874.