Bryant v. United States
| Decision Date | 28 December 2011 |
| Docket Number | Case No. 1:11CV00041 SNLJ |
| Parties | WELDON B. BRYANT, Petitioner, v. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Respondent. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Missouri |
This case is a motion under 28 U.S. C. § 2255 to vacate, set aside or correct sentence by Weldon B. Bryant, a person in federal custody. On February 13, 2009, Bryant was found guilty by a jury of the offense of mail fraud and, on June 24, 2009, this Court sentenced Bryant to the Bureau of Prisons for a term of 18 months, a sentence within the sentencing guideline range. Bryant's § 2255 action, which is based on several allegations of ineffective assistance of counsel, is fully briefed and ripe for disposition.
On September 18, 2008, a Grand Jury in the Eastern District of Missouri, Southeastern Division, returned a four-count Indictment against Weldon B. Bryant. The general allegations of the Indictment were that Bryant engaged in a scheme where he received payments from an insurance company by using the United States Postal Service to obtain these payments by submitting false and fraudulent claim forms to that insurance company in violation of Title 18, U.S.C. § 1341. Count I of the Indictment charged that, on or about November 16, 2005, Bryant submitted a false and fraudulent claim form to the John Hancock Life Insurance Company in theamount of $2,310.00, in which Bryant represented that Jesse White had provided skilled nursing care to Eleanor Bryant, and that Bryant intended to defraud the insurance company. Count II of the Indictment charged that, on or about January 17, 2006, Bryant submitted a false and fraudulent claim form to the John Hancock Life Insurance Company in the amount of $1,050.00, in which Bryant represented that Jesse White had provided skilled nursing care to Eleanor Bryant, and that Bryant intended to defraud the insurance company. Count III of the Indictment charged that, on or about July 19, 2006, Bryant submitted a false and fraudulent claim form to the John Hancock Life Insurance Company in the amount of $8,340.00, in which Bryant represented that Jesse White had provided skilled nursing care to Eleanor Bryant, and that Bryant intended to defraud the insurance company. Count IV of the Indictment charged that, on or about January 18, 2007, Bryant submitted a false and fraudulent claim form to the John Hancock Life Insurance Company in the amount of $2,100.00, in which Bryant represented that Jesse White had provided skilled nursing care to Eleanor Bryant, and that Bryant intended to defraud the insurance company. On September 22, 2008, Bryant was arrested and made his initial appearance on the federal charges. Bryant was released on a $10,000.00 unsecured bond. After the initial appearance, the Federal Public Defenders Office was appointed to represent Bryant. Bryant was arraigned on September 24, 2008. At that arraignment, Bryant pled not guilty to the charges.
On November 5, 2008, Bryant filed his Waiver of Filing of Pretrial Motions. On November 10, 2008, Bryant appeared with his attorney, Michael A. Skrien, and waived his right to file pretrial motions in his case in a hearing before United States Magistrate Judge Audrey G. Fleissig. The case was set for a jury trial on December 17, 2008.
Bryant was serving a period of probation in an unrelated state case at the time of his federal indictment. Bryant's state case was a conviction for Possession of a Controlled Substance - Crack Cocaine. On November 14, 2008, the state court judge suspended Bryant's probation and placed him in custody. The Government obtained a writ to have Bryant present for his federal prosecution.
On December 9, 2008, Bryant's attorney, Michael A. Skrien, filed a motion to continue the trial setting. Bryant executed a Waiver of Speedy Trial, which was also filed with the District Court. On December 9, 2008, the District Court granted Bryant's motion to continue the trial setting. Bryant's case was given a new trial setting of January 28, 2009.
On January 6, 2009, Federal Public Defender Scott F. Tilsen entered his entry of appearance on Bryant's case. Federal Public Defender Michael A. Skrien was allowed to withdraw as Bryant's attorney.
On January 20, 2009, attorney Scott F. Tilsen filed a motion to continue the trial setting. That motion was granted and the trial was continued until February 12, 2009.
On February 12, 2009, Bryant appeared with his attorney to begin his jury trial on the Indictment. The Government moved to dismiss Count I of the Indictment prior to the submission of any evidence. That motion was granted. The Government and Bryant presented evidence until February 13, 2009. That evidence is summarized below.
On June 20, 2000, Bryant's mother, Eleanor Bryant ("Eleanor") applied for a policy of long term health care insurance from the John Hancock Life Insurance Company. That insurance policy was issued by John Hancock on July 15, 2000. The policy provided for reimbursement ofactual expenses incurred on behalf of Eleanor for nursing care, home health care and assisted living expenses required by her. That policy has continued to be in force from the day it was issued to the present day. (Tr. I, p. 32 - 36.)
The insurance policy would only reimburse Eleanor's covered expenses up to a total of $70 per day and up to a total payment of $153,300. The first 100 days that Eleanor required health care were not covered for reimbursement under the policy elimination period. (Tr. I, p. 36, 37.) Covered expenses may be recovered from the John Hancock Life Insurance Company by filing a Custodial Nursing Care Questionnaire ("CNCQ form"). That form is provided by the insurance company and requires the claimant to provide the name of the caregiver, the claim number, the insurance policy number, the hours worked by the caregiver, the rate of pay, the total charges and dates of service provided by the caregiver. Both the caregiver and the person claiming the right to reimbursement are required to sign the CNCQ form. The true identity of the caregiver is important to the insurance company in order to make sure that the bill is for actual services provided to an insured. All CNCQ forms are reviewed by John Hancock Life Insurance Company personnel prior to payment. All CNCQ forms are received by the John Hancock Life Insurance Company by United States mail. (Tr. I, p. 38 - 46.)
In 2005, Eleanor became eligible for covered services under the policy because she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's. Claims were filed for reimbursement of covered expenses under the insurance policy by the defendant. The CNCQ forms submitted by Bryant for these reimbursements showed that the home health care services were provided by Certified Nurses Assistant Jesse White. A series of CNCQ forms was mailed to the John Hancock Insurance Company by Bryant from January, 2005 until January, 2007, for services provided by Jesse White for Eleanor. A portion of those invoices covered the period from November, 2005, until January, 2007. The total payments made by John Hancock Life Insurance Company to Bryant for CNCQ forms alleging services rendered by Jesse White caring for Eleanor from November 2005, until January, 2007, was $29,440. During that time, Bryant submitted a total of thirteen CNCQ forms requesting reimbursement from the John Hancock Insurance Company. Those forms represented that Jesse White performed nursing care services for Eleanor and that his fees were paid by Bryant. (Tr. I, p. 46 - 58, 120, Exh. 5A - 5M.)
Jesse White met Bryant in 2005 when White was seeking employment from persons needing general yard and home maintenance work. Bryant hired White to perform some yard work at Bryant's Fairdealing home during the summer of 2005. Both Bryant and Eleanor lived in a home on that Fairdealing property. During that period of time, Bryant asked White to help care for Bryant's mother, Eleanor. White was licensed as a Certified Nurses Assistant at the time. White agreed to help care for Eleanor and was paid $10 per hour for that work. White helped Eleanor with her shopping, cleaning and making sure that she didn't accidentally hurt herself. He worked sporadically, but not every day, during 2005.
White stopped caring for Eleanor around October 1, 2005. In 2006, White moved to the Kansas City area where he started working for LaFarge, a local Kansas City employer. White's first work day was May 22, 2006. His employment with LaFarge ended on September 8, 2008. He worked twelve hour days, working either three or four days each week. White did not perform any services for Eleanor during the period of time he worked for LaFarge in Kansas City, Missouri. It was about a seven hour drive from Kansas City, Missouri, to Eleanor's home in Fairdealing, Missouri. (Tr. I, p. 123 - 125, 144, 145.)
In October, 2005, Bryant called White to ask if he would sign some replacement CNCQ forms. Bryant told White that Bryant had lost the original forms for Eleanor's care and needed new forms signed so Bryant could be reimbursed by the insurance company. White agreed to sign those replacement forms. White drove to a restaurant in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, and met with Bryant. While there, White signed about ten CNCQ forms supplied by Bryant. White did not believe that the forms were filled out at the time he signed them. (Tr. I, p. 126 - 128.)
About two weeks after signing the replacement invoices, Bryant called White again. During this conversation, Bryant told White that he had lost the forms and needed White to sign another group of forms. White agreed to do this and drove to Bryant's home in Fairdealing for this purpose. White met Bryant there and signed another ten CNCQ forms that were blank. White did not receive any money for signing the replacement forms. (Tr. I, p. 129, 130, 142.)
In January, 2007, Martin St. John was a senior investigator for the John Hancock Life Insurance Company...
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