Filed: Jan. 08, 2013
Latest Update: Feb. 12, 2020
Summary: UNPUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT No. 12-4255 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff - Appellee, v. OLUBUNMI OLADAPO KOMOLAFE, a/k/a Dapson, Defendant - Appellant. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, at Alexandria. Anthony John Trenga, District Judge. (1:11-cr-00388-AJT-3) Submitted: December 21, 2012 Decided: January 8, 2013 Before KING and AGEE, Circuit Judges, and HAMILTON, Senior Circuit Judge. Affirmed by unpublishe
Summary: UNPUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT No. 12-4255 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff - Appellee, v. OLUBUNMI OLADAPO KOMOLAFE, a/k/a Dapson, Defendant - Appellant. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, at Alexandria. Anthony John Trenga, District Judge. (1:11-cr-00388-AJT-3) Submitted: December 21, 2012 Decided: January 8, 2013 Before KING and AGEE, Circuit Judges, and HAMILTON, Senior Circuit Judge. Affirmed by unpublished..
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UNPUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT
No. 12-4255
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff - Appellee,
v.
OLUBUNMI OLADAPO KOMOLAFE, a/k/a Dapson,
Defendant - Appellant.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern
District of Virginia, at Alexandria. Anthony John Trenga,
District Judge. (1:11-cr-00388-AJT-3)
Submitted: December 21, 2012 Decided: January 8, 2013
Before KING and AGEE, Circuit Judges, and HAMILTON, Senior
Circuit Judge.
Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.
Flynn M. Owens, RUBIN & OWENS, P.A., Baltimore, Maryland, for
Appellant. Neil H. MacBride, United States Attorney, Shayna A.
Hutchins, Special Assistant United States Attorney, Alexandria,
Virginia, for Appellee.
Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.
PER CURIAM:
Olubunmi Oladapo Komolafe appeals his conviction of
conspiracy to commit access device fraud and aggravated identity
theft. He contends that the district court abused its
discretion by allowing the Government to admit evidence of
conduct that predated the start date in the indictment. We
affirm.
The indictment charged that the conspiracy operated
“[f]rom at least January 2010 through in or about June 2011.”
Prior to trial, the Government provided notice that it intended
to introduce evidence of the conspiracy that occurred before
January 2010. Specifically, the Government intended to present
evidence that, as far back as 2006, Komolafe recruited
restaurant workers to use a skimmer device to obtain credit card
information from customers at the restaurants. Komolafe re-
encoded credit cards with the card numbers provided by his
recruits. The re-encoded cards were then used to purchase gift
cards at various retail establishments, and the purchased gift
cards were used to purchase merchandise that Komolafe or his
“runners” would return for a cash refund.
Over Komolafe’s objection to the admission of the
evidence, the court ruled that it was likely to be intrinsic
evidence because it “appears to provide context and background
for the conspiracy.” The court concluded that the evidence was
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admissible, “subject to anything that might cause the court to
reconsider based on the evidence.”
When the Government introduced this evidence during
the trial, Komolafe did not object. This court reviews the
district court’s evidentiary rulings for abuse of discretion.
United States v. Aramony,
88 F.3d 1369, 1377 (4th Cir. 1996).
However, where a party fails to object to the admission of
evidence, our review is for plain error. United States v. Chin,
83 F.3d 83, 87 (4th Cir. 1996) (citations omitted).
We have reviewed the record and conclude that the
district court did not err in determining that the evidence
provided context and background for the conspiracy and was
intrinsic to the charged conspiracy. See Chin,
83 F.3d 88;
United States v. Kennedy,
32 F.3d 876 (4th Cir. 1994) (holding
that Fed. R. Evid. 404(b) does not restrict evidence of crimes
that arose out of the same series of transactions as the charged
offense or that are necessary to complete the story of the
charged crime). Further, the evidence was not unfairly
prejudicial to Komolafe’s case, and therefore the district court
did not plainly err in admitting it. See United States v.
Williams,
445 F.3d 724, 730 (4th Cir. 2006) (ruling that
evidence should be excluded under Fed. R. Evid. 403 as unfairly
prejudicial “when there is a genuine risk that the emotions of a
jury will be excited to irrational behavior” and the risk is
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“disproportionate to the probative value of the offered
evidence.”) (citations omitted).
We therefore affirm the district court’s decision and
affirm Komolafe’s conviction. We dispense with oral argument
because the facts and legal contentions are adequately presented
in the materials before this court and argument would not aid
the decisional process.
AFFIRMED
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