In February 2022, officers in Baldwin County, Alabama stopped a car with three occupants and, after searching the vehicle, found stolen and forged checks, multiple IDs, credit cards, and a check-encoding machine, among other items tied to a check-cashing scheme.
Timothy “TJ” Buchanan was in the back seat and twice admitted to cashing fraudulent checks. A jury acquitted Buchanan of one aggravated identity theft count but convicted him of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, possession of five or more identification documents, possession of counterfeited or forged securities, a second aggravated identity theft count, and possession of stolen mail. The district court imposed a sentence of 116 months’ imprisonment and ordered $24,701.20 in restitution.
On appeal, Buchanan challenged the sufficiency of the evidence supporting four of his convictions and argued that his aggravated identity theft conviction failed under Dubin. The Eleventh Circuit affirmed the convictions but vacated parts of the sentence and restitution and remanded.
First, the panel upheld the defendant’s conviction for possession of ID cards, counterfeit securities, and stolen mail. It concluded that the record supported guilt at least on an aiding-and-abetting theory and reiterated that possession of stolen mail under § 1708 is a continuing offense. It also rejected Buchanan’s Dubin challenge to the aggravated identity theft count, holding under plain-error review that possessing a check bearing another person’s signature was at the “crux” of the § 1028(a)(3) predicate and, therefore, any error was not plain.
However, the court vacated the defendant’s sentence based on the district court’s erroneous application of the § 2B1.1(b)(10) “sophisticated means” enhancement. The court explained that the 2015 Guideline amendments require that the defendant himself “engaged in or caused” conduct that is “especially complex.” Here, however, Buchanan’s role was limited to cashing counterfeit checks prepared by others, and using superglue on his fingers to conceal his identity was not “especially complex.” On remand, the panel instructed the district court to determine whether Buchanan “engaged in or caused” sophisticated means under the appropriate standard.
Finally, the court vacated restitution tied to two checks cashed on January 27, 2022 because the record was unclear whether Buchanan had joined the conspiracy by that date. It required the district court to make additional findings as to when he joined the conspiracy.
Appeal from the Southern District of Alabama.
Opinion by Jordan, joined by Newsom and Brasher.