U.S. v. Robinson
| Decision Date | 29 April 1993 |
| Docket Number | 91-2803,91-1040,Nos. 91-1039,91-3150 and 92-4041,s. 91-1039 |
| Citation | 8 F.3d 398 |
| Parties | 39 Fed. R. Evid. Serv. 843 UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Noah Ryan ROBINSON and John Anthony Robinson, Defendants-Appellants, and Noah ROBINSON, Petitioner-Appellant, v. UNITED STATES of America, Respondent-Appellee, and John A. ROBINSON, Petitioner-Appellant, v. UNITED STATES of America, Respondent-Appellee. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit |
Noah Robinson, pro se.
Jeffrey E. Stone, Crim. Div., Barry R. Elden, Asst. U.S. Atty., Crim. Receiving, Appellate Div., Chicago, IL, for U.S. in No. 91-2803.
John A. Robinson, pro se.
Barry R. Elden, Asst. U.S. Atty., Crim. Receiving, Appellate Div., Chicago, IL, for U.S. in No. 91-3150 and 92-4041.
Diane Saltoun (argued), Barry R. Elden, Asst. U.S. Atty., Crim. Receiving, Appellate Div., Chicago, IL, for U.S. in 91-1039 and 91-1040.
Allan A. Ackerman, Chicago, IL (argued), for Noah Robinson in 91-1039 and 91-1040.
Before POSNER, Chief Judge, and FLAUM and KANNE, Circuit Judges.
This case involves two different types of appeals, both of which stem from the convictions of Noah and John ("Tony") Robinson. 1 Both defendants directly appeal their convictions for racketeering and other criminal conduct described below. Additionally, both defendants appeal the district court's denial of various § 2255 motions, which they filed while their direct appeals were pending in this court. While the government blundered during trial on more than one occasion, we do not believe that its errors require reversal, and consequently affirm both convictions. We also affirm, as modified, the district court's dismissal of the defendants' § 2255 motions.
Noah Robinson was the president and controlling shareholder of Renoja, an Illinois corporation. From 1983 through 1989, Renoja operated six Wendy's restaurants in the Chicago area. Robinson was the franchisee for each of these restaurants. Alfreda Vaughn was second in command at Renoja; Tony Robinson and George Robinson both worked for Renoja, managing various restaurants, and Melvin Wilson was the bookkeeper for several of Noah Robinson's businesses, including Renoja.
Robinson and Renoja had several obligations related to the operation of the Wendy's restaurants. As a franchisee, Robinson was obligated to pay the parent company, Wendy's International, a royalty of 4% of the gross receipts from the restaurant on a monthly basis, and to contribute 2% of gross receipts to a national advertising fund. Renoja was required to pay 8% sales taxes to the State of Illinois and a percentage of its taxable income to the federal government. In 1986, Renoja filed a petition for reorganization under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois. During the pendency of the bankruptcy proceedings, Renoja was required to accurately report its income and expenses, and to preserve its assets for the benefit of creditors. In addition to Renoja's corporate obligations, Robinson had another obligation to a Chicago businessman, William Goodall, who owned a one-third interest in the Wendy's restaurant located at 8645 Stoney Island Drive. According to their agreement, Goodall was entitled to certain percentages of gross receipts and profits from that restaurant.
In January 1984, Robinson inaugurated a system known as "calculator sales" at the 86th Street Wendy's. Employees were instructed to turn off the cash registers from 2:00 a.m. until 6:00 a.m., and to use a calculator to add up customer sales. Initially, an employee or a manager, often Tony Robinson, rang the calculator sales back into the cash register in the morning when the cash registers were turned on. However, approximately a month after the calculator sales began, George and Tony Robinson, acting at the direction of Noah Robinson, told the managers to stop ringing the calculator sales back into the register and, instead, keep the calculator sales money separate from the cash register money.
While the scheme continued, the cash register receipts were properly accounted for, placed in a "drop safe" located on the restaurant's premises, picked up every morning by an armored courier service, taken to the bank and deposited. The money from the calculator sales was treated differently. That money went into a different safe in the manager's office and was picked up by Tony or George Robinson, instead of the armored courier. George or Tony then took the money to Noah Robinson's offices.
Between September 1984 and March 1986, Robinson opened five more Wendy's restaurants in Chicago, which were also supervised by George and Tony Robinson. Acting at Noah Robinson's direction, they ordered employees at the new locations to implement the same scheme already in place at the 86th Street Wendy's.
Wendy's store managers were required to complete weekly sales reports. Pursuant to instructions, the managers at Robinson's restaurants compiled these gross sales reports based only on cash register tapes; calculator sales figures were not included in these computations. The weekly reports were used to generate the monthly reports of sales figures for Wendy's International concerning all of Robinson's stores. Robinson and Alfreda Vaughn told Renoja's accountants, except Melvin Wilson, that the cash register tapes and reports included all sales, despite the fact they did not. Renoja's accountants were unaware that the cash registers were routinely turned off from four to six hours a night. Renoja's accountants prepared financial reports for third parties based solely on the cash register tapes and sales reports. Because these documents underrepresented total sales, false information was supplied to third parties, such as Wendy's International, the state of Illinois, the IRS, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court and William Goodall.
Robinson kept a separate set of books to record the cash skimmed from the restaurants. From August 1, 1985 through mid-1987, Robinson kept a handwritten record of the daily amount skimmed from each restaurant. In mid-1987, Robinson instructed Wilson to record the daily skim figures in ledgers captioned "Calculator Funds Accounting." Wilson recorded the calculator sales in these ledgers through January 1988. At that time, Wilson told Vaughn the daily figures, which she entered into her computer. Each week thereafter, Vaughn gave Robinson a computerized print out of the weekly skim from each store. Until trial Renoja's accountants had never seen this second set of books.
The cash skimming scheme went smoothly for Robinson until mid-1984. At that time, Randall Dawson, a senior manager at the 86th Street store, became curious about the calculator sales system. Tony Robinson told Dawson that the cash registers were turned off because they could not run 24 hours a day and that Noah Robinson knew the registers were turned off nightly. Noah Robinson told Dawson the same thing, adding that the calculator sales were rung back into the registers daily.
Subsequently, Dawson reviewed Renoja's internal accounting practices and discovered, through documents provided by Wilson, that the calculator sales were not being included in the total sales figures. Dawson informed Vaughn, who said she would discuss the problem with Robinson. Meanwhile, Dawson spoke to George and Tony Robinson. Both were hostile, told him not to worry about it, and warned him to discontinue his inquiry. Then Noah Robinson called Dawson and instructed him not to pursue the matter any further. Not long after, Dawson was fired from Renoja.
After Dawson was discharged in July 1984, he went to work for William Goodall as a manager of some of Goodall's other restaurants. In September 1984, Goodall filed suit against Robinson because he had not received any financial statements for the 86th Street restaurant or any of the proceeds to which he was entitled under his agreement with Robinson. In mid-1985, while the lawsuit was pending, Wilson mentioned to Dawson that he had accompanied Tony Robinson to pick up skimmed cash at three of Noah Robinson's Wendy's restaurants. Dawson relayed this conversation to Goodall, and explained how the calculator sales system worked. Goodall then filed an affidavit in his lawsuit, recounting Wilson's conversation with Dawson and describing the calculator sales system.
After Goodall's affidavit was filed, Robinson chastised Wilson for discussing the calculator sales system with Dawson, and told him that if he was called to testify in the lawsuit, he would have to deny all knowledge of the calculator sales and say that the bags picked up by Tony Robinson contained legitimate store receipts. Robinson also told Tony Robinson to deny all knowledge if he were called to testify. Ultimately, neither man was called as a witness and the lawsuit was resolved.
In December 1988, a search warrant was issued for Renoja's business office in Chicago. Pursuant to the warrant, federal agents seized many documents, including cash register tapes, weekly sales reports, and expense reports. In addition, the agents found physical evidence of the skimming activities. The agents seized, from Vaughn's office, several Wendy's bags containing cash, meal tickets, and documents showing calculator sales. Two of these bags bore dates of only one week earlier.
The agents also seized two ledger books captioned "Calculator Funds Accounting." These ledgers reflected the daily amounts of cash skimmed from August 1985 through April 1988; approximately $10,000 a month. After the search, the scheme stopped for about two weeks. However, it was resumed and continued until the spring of 1989, when mounting pressure from law enforcement caused Robinson to order an end to the calculator sales system.
The foregoing story led a federal grand jury,...
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