Filed: Sep. 07, 2006
Latest Update: Feb. 12, 2020
Summary: UNPUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT No. 06-4097 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff - Appellee, versus MANUEL GEORGE ROBERTS, Defendant - Appellant. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia, at Charleston. Robert C. Chambers, District Judge. (2:05-cr-00074-RCC) Submitted: August 4, 2006 Decided: September 7, 2006 Before NIEMEYER and GREGORY, Circuit Judges, and HAMILTON, Senior Circuit Judge. Affirmed by unpublished per
Summary: UNPUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT No. 06-4097 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff - Appellee, versus MANUEL GEORGE ROBERTS, Defendant - Appellant. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia, at Charleston. Robert C. Chambers, District Judge. (2:05-cr-00074-RCC) Submitted: August 4, 2006 Decided: September 7, 2006 Before NIEMEYER and GREGORY, Circuit Judges, and HAMILTON, Senior Circuit Judge. Affirmed by unpublished per ..
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UNPUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT
No. 06-4097
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff - Appellee,
versus
MANUEL GEORGE ROBERTS,
Defendant - Appellant.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern
District of West Virginia, at Charleston. Robert C. Chambers,
District Judge. (2:05-cr-00074-RCC)
Submitted: August 4, 2006 Decided: September 7, 2006
Before NIEMEYER and GREGORY, Circuit Judges, and HAMILTON, Senior
Circuit Judge.
Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.
Mary Lou Newberger, Federal Public Defender, Jonathan D. Byrne,
Appellate Counsel, Edward H. Weis, Assistant Federal Public
Defender, Charleston, West Virginia, for Appellant. Charles T.
Miller, United States Attorney, Monica K. Schwartz, Assistant
United States Attorney, Huntington, West Virginia, for Appellee.
Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.
See Local Rule 36(c).
PER CURIAM:
Manuel George Roberts was convicted of conspiracy to
knowingly possess counterfeit securities with intent to deceive
others, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 371, 513(a) (2000), and
possession of a TCF Bank check with intent to deceive another, also
in violation of § 513(a). Roberts was sentenced to eighteen months
in prison. He appeals his convictions, arguing that venue did not
lie in the Southern District of West Virginia. We affirm.
Investigators who executed two search warrants in
Charleston, West Virginia, discovered that Roberts had in his
possession over $680,000 in counterfeit checks and postal money
orders, seventeen United Parcel Service envelopes with a completed
address label affixed to each envelope, and an application for an
identification card in the name of Darias Jones. Several of the
checks were made out to Darias Jones. One investigator testified
that it appeared that Roberts intended to obtain the identification
in Jones’ name.
Roberts admitted that, while in Alaska, he had met an
individual named John over the internet. Roberts acquiesced to a
scheme proposed by John, who was based in Nigeria. John was to
mail checks and money orders to Roberts, who would then re-mail
them to various individuals in the United States whose names
appeared on the checks and money orders. Roberts was to receive
ten percent of the value of each check and money order that was
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negotiated. Roberts admitted that he suspected the operation was
“wrong” and said that a bank employee had told him that the checks
were bogus. Roberts told investigators that he had received
approximately $6000 from the arrangement. Nothing Roberts said or
did suggested to investigators that he had withdrawn from the
conspiracy.
Viewing the evidence on venue in the light most favorable
to the Government, we conclude that the Government met its burden
of establishing venue on each count of the indictment. See United
States v. Scott,
270 F.3d 30, 34 (1st Cir. 2001). Roberts’ knowing
possession of counterfeit money orders and checks worth over
$680,000, including the TCF Bank check identified in Count Two, his
possession of checks made out to Darias Jones and an application
for identification in Jones’ name, and his possession of pre-
addressed envelopes, in which he presumably intended to mail checks
and money orders in continuation of the conspiracy, establish that
Roberts had not stopped his participation in the conspiracy, but
had merely moved his part of the operation to West Virginia. He
clearly possessed the money orders and checks, including the TCF
Bank check, with the intent to deceive and in furtherance of the
conspiracy, in the Southern District of West Virginia.
Venue as to each count was proper in the Southern
District of West Virginia. We accordingly affirm. We dispense
with oral argument because the facts and legal contentions are
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adequately presented in the materials before the court and argument
would not aid the decisional process.
AFFIRMED
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