United States v. Small, No. 13-4296 (3d Cir. 2015)
Annotate this CaseSmall, a Pennsylvania state prisoner, was sentenced by a federal court to 135 months for filing false tax returns, to be served consecutive to his state sentence. He was returned to the Correctional Institution at Huntingdon to serve the remainder of his state sentence. U.S. Marshals served the Commonwealth Department of Corrections with a detainer, which governed Small’s transfer to federal authorities upon completion of his state sentence. Huntingdon staff received documents in the mail, ostensibly from the Clerk of Court for the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, vacating Small’s federal conviction and sentence. They were actually forgeries sent at Small’s direction. They appeared to have the signatures of the clerk and judge and the court’s seal. Huntingdon officials released Small upon completion of his state sentence. Learning of his release, federal agents arrested Small, who was charged with: forging the signature of a federal judge, forging a federal agency seal, mail fraud, conspiracy, and escape. Small unsuccessfully moved to dismiss the escape, arguing that he was never in federal custody, a requisite element of the crime. He was sentenced to 60 months to be served consecutively to his tax fraud sentence. The Third Circuit affirmed, finding that Small committed “escape” under 18 U.S.C. 751.
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