Filed: Sep. 21, 2010
Latest Update: Feb. 21, 2020
Summary: [DO NOT PUBLISH] IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT _ FILED U.S. COURT OF APPEALS No. 10-11176 ELEVENTH CIRCUIT Non-Argument Calendar SEPTEMBER 21, 2010 _ JOHN LEY CLERK D.C. Docket No. 1:09-cr-20592-JAL-1 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, lllllllllllllllllllll Plaintiff-Appellee, versus RODOLFO RAVELO, lllllllllllllllllllll Defendant-Appellant. _ Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida _ (September 21, 2010) Before TJOFLAT, BARKETT a
Summary: [DO NOT PUBLISH] IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT _ FILED U.S. COURT OF APPEALS No. 10-11176 ELEVENTH CIRCUIT Non-Argument Calendar SEPTEMBER 21, 2010 _ JOHN LEY CLERK D.C. Docket No. 1:09-cr-20592-JAL-1 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, lllllllllllllllllllll Plaintiff-Appellee, versus RODOLFO RAVELO, lllllllllllllllllllll Defendant-Appellant. _ Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida _ (September 21, 2010) Before TJOFLAT, BARKETT an..
More
[DO NOT PUBLISH]
IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT
________________________ FILED
U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
No. 10-11176 ELEVENTH CIRCUIT
Non-Argument Calendar SEPTEMBER 21, 2010
________________________ JOHN LEY
CLERK
D.C. Docket No. 1:09-cr-20592-JAL-1
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
lllllllllllllllllllll Plaintiff-Appellee,
versus
RODOLFO RAVELO,
lllllllllllllllllllll Defendant-Appellant.
________________________
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Southern District of Florida
________________________
(September 21, 2010)
Before TJOFLAT, BARKETT and HULL, Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM:
Appellant Rodolfo Ravelo was an armored truck driver for Brinks, Inc. On
June 8, 2009, appellant and a co-worker collected money from a Wachovia Bank
Currency Center and transported it to a Brinks warehouse in Miami. After
appellant left the warehouse, Brinks conducted an audit and discovered that
$754,000 was missing from the money appellant and his co-worker had picked up
from the Wachovia Currency Center.
Appellant was arrested and charged with bank robbery, in violation of 18
U.S.C. § 2113(b). He pled guilty unconditionally to the offense, and the district
court sentenced him to prison for a term of 84 months. He appeals his sentence on
the grounds that the district court (1) erred in enhancing the base offense level for
robbery by two levels pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 3C1.1 for obstruction of justice, and
(2) abused its discretion in imposing a prison term that is 33 months above the
sentencing range prescribed by the Sentencing Guidelines, 41 to 51 months. A
term of 84 months, he contends, is substantively unreasonable. We address these
two grounds in turn.
I.
Section 3C1.1 of the Guidelines provides:
If (A) the defendant willfully obstructed or impeded, or attempted to
obstruct or impede, the administration of justice with respect to the
investigation, prosecution, or sentencing of the instant offense of
conviction, and (B) the obstructive conduct related to (i) the
defendant’s offense of conviction and any relevant conduct; or (ii) a
closely related offense, increase the offense level by 2 levels.
2
U.S.S.G. § 3C1.1 (2009). The commentary to this section lists various examples
of obstructive conduct, including where a defendant provides “materially false
information to a judge” or to “a law enforcement officer that significantly
obstructed or impeded the official investigation or prosecution of the instant
offense.” § 3C1.1, comment. (n.4(f) and (g)). “Material” means “evidence, fact,
statement, or information that, if believed, would tend to influence or affect the
issue under determination.” § 3C1.1, comment. (n.6).
The district court adjusted appellant’s base offense level pursuant to §
3C1.1 because appellant provided materially false statements to the FBI and to the
court during the sentencing hearing. The false statements to the FBI were material
because they affected law enforcement’s ability to apprehend all culpable parties
and recover the stolen money; hence, the statements impeded the official
investigation or prosecution of the offense in this case. The statements to the
court were material since they related to relevant conduct: what did appellant do
with the money and who else was involved in the robbery.
II.
We review a variance from the Guidelines sentencing range for
reasonableness under the abuse-of-discretion standard. United States v. Shaw.
560
F.3d 1230, 1232, 1237 (11th Cir.), cert. denied,
129 S. Ct. 2847 (2009). Pursuant
3
to 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a), the district court was required to impose a sentence
“sufficient, but not greater than necessary, to comply with the purposes set forth in
[§ 3553(a)(2)],” for, among other things, to reflect the seriousness of the offense,
promote respect for the law, provide just punishment for the offense, deter others
from committing the offense, and protect the public from the defendant’s
predictable criminal behavior. 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a)(2)(A),(B), and (C). The court
complied with this requirement here. It varied upward from the sentencing range
because, as the court stated, the offense was “very serious, involving a large
amount of money based upon a circumstance of a man who was a trusted
employee for a very important job.” Moreover, the variance was required to deter
others, like appellant, who might be “in positions where they are given trust” and
“handle large amounts of cash.”
Appellant’s sentence of 84 months is well below the maximum sentence that
could have been imposed, 120 months imprisonment. Given the court’s
sentencing objectives, the satisfaction of the § 3553(a)(2)(A) and (B) sentencing
goals, we conclude that appellant has not shown his sentence to be unreasonable.
AFFIRMED.
4