United States v. Roberts, No. 17-6512 (6th Cir. 2019)
Annotate this CaseRoberts and seven co-conspirators stole millions of dollars’ worth of sensitive military equipment from an army base and sold it on eBay. Although Roberts testified that he did not knowingly traffick stolen goods, he was convicted of conspiracy to steal government property valued at over $1,000 (18 U.S.C. 371); 10 counts of wire fraud (18 U.S.C. 1343); and two counts of unauthorized export of prohibited military equipment (22 U.S.C. 2778(b)(2)). The court applied sentencing enhancements: 18 offense levels for stealing more than $3.5 million of military equipment (USSG 2B1.1(b)(1)(J)), two levels for mass-marketing (USSG 2B1.1(b)(2)(A)(ii)), two levels as a “person in the business of receiving and selling stolen property” (USSG 2B1.1(b)(4)), two levels for committing a crime involving sophisticated means (USSG 2B1.1(b)(10)(C)), four levels for organizing or otherwise leading the criminal conspiracy (USSG 3B1.1(a)), and two levels for willfully obstructing justice (USSG 3C1.1). The court sentenced Roberts to 180 months’ imprisonment, varying downward from the 210-262-month Guidelines range. The Sixth Circuit vacated the loss enhancement (USSG 2B1.1(b)(1)(J)) and the obstruction enhancement (USSG 3C1.1) and remanded for resentencing. The court otherwise affirmed, rejecting challenges to other sentencing enhancements; the exclusion of evidence of current e-Bay listings, to show that Roberts did not intend to commit a crime; the denial of Criminal Justice Act funds to allow Roberts to retain a forensic accountant; and the substantive reasonableness of Roberts’s sentence.
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