United States v. Chambers

• Decision Date: 29 September 1967
• Docket Number: No. 17380.,17380.
• Citation: 382 F.2d 910
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Edward H. CHAMBERS, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit

382 F.2d 910 (1967)

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Edward H. CHAMBERS, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 17380.

United States Court of Appeals Sixth Circuit.

September 29, 1967.

Joseph C. Healy, Covington, Ky., for appellant.

Thomas R. Smith, Asst. U. S. Atty., Cincinnati, Ohio, for appellee, Robert M. Draper, U. S. Atty., E. Winther McCroom, Asst. U. S. Atty., Cincinnati, Ohio, on brief.

Before PHILLIPS, EDWARDS and CELEBREZZE, Circuit Judges.

CELEBREZZE, Circuit Judge.

Defendant-Appellant, Edward H. Chambers, appeals following his conviction by a jury on five counts of an indictment in the District Court for the Southern District of Ohio. In the first count Defendant-Appellant was charged with conspiring with seven other named persons to commit an offense against the United States, to wit: To violate Section 1952, Title 18, United States Code, in violation of Section 371, Title 18, United States Code. Counts III, IV, V and VI of the indictment charged the Defendant-Appellant with the substantive offense of violating Section 1952, Title 18, United States Code, known as the Anti-Racketeering Statute. On each of these counts Appellant was alleged to have wilfully, unlawfully, and knowingly traveled or caused others to travel on various dates in interstate Commerce from Cincinnati, Ohio, to Newport or Covington, in the State of Kentucky, with the intent to promote and carry on the unlawful business enterprise involving prostitution and with thereafter promoting, managing and carrying on such unlawful activities of keeping, operating and procuring business for a house of prostitution, which latter activities were carried on in violation of the law of the State of Kentucky. A verdict of guilty was returned by the jury and the Defendant-Appellant was subsequently sentenced to three years on each of Counts I, III, IV, V and VI, to run concurrently with each other. The first issue raised by Defendant-Appellant on appeal is whether there was sufficient evidence to support the conviction.

The Government's evidence showed that for some time prior to March 13, 1965, Vivian Schulte operated a house of prostitution in Covington, Kentucky, in partnership with Clement J. Schweinefuss, also known as Bud Schweinefuss, who was named in the indictment as a co-conspirator of Defendant-Appellant. Vivian Schulte served as a "madam" in the business enterprise. Her duties included answering the telephone, answering the door to callers, collecting the money from customers, keeping account of the money for the girls, and dividing up the income between the house and girls at the end of the day. Generally, her duties were described as seeing that everything ran smoothly and admitting customers in and out of the house.

As a part of the operations, customers were generally received through an arrangement with cab drivers operating out of the City of Cincinnati who would call the house and make arrangements to carry dates there for the purpose of prostitution. Approximately 65 to 70 percent of the business of the house was arranged through this means.

Vivian Schulte terminated her employment as the house madam on or about March 13, 1965. Approximately one week thereafter the Defendant-Appellant, Edward H. Chambers, took up employment at the same house. Witness Joyce Jackson, one of the girls who worked as a prostitute at the house, indicated that Defendant-Appellant's duties included many of the same things as did the duties of Vivian Schulte in that he answered the door and the telephone; that she would collect money from the customers and turn it over to Defendant-Appellant, who, in turn, at the end of the day would return her share; that further, the prostitutes were told by Defendant-Appellant whether or not it was a cab date; and that he would tell them it was a cab date after he answered the telephone. Throughout the entire period of operation of the house the co-conspirator Bud Schweinefuss, according to the evidence on behalf of the Government, participated as a principal partner. Throughout this same time the co-conspirators Walter Cardano, Harman G. Parker, Marion Parker, and Limbell Halsey were employed as cab drivers operating out of the downtown Cincinnati area who, after placing telephone calls, transported customers from Cincinnati, Ohio, to Covington or Newport, Kentucky, for the purpose of participating in the unlawful prostitution activities carried on by Defendant-Appellant and others.

Evidence was presented that on or about March 18, 1965, the date mentioned in Count III of the indictment, Patrolman Pruitt of the Cincinnati Police Department was transported from Cincinnati, Ohio, to Newport, Kentucky, along with Patrolman Michael Lander, also of the Cincinnati Police Department, for the purpose of engaging in the activity of prostitution. Both patrolmen testified that they were admitted into the house by the Defendant-Appellant, Edward H. Chambers. Further, the evidence showed that on March 24, 1965, Mr. Joseph Shaw, who at the time was a patrolman in the Cincinnati Police Department and one Robert Weidinger, also a patrolman in the Cincinnati Police Department, were likewise transported from Cincinnati, Ohio, to Covington, Kentucky, for the purpose of fulfilling a prostitution date and that upon their arrival at the house of prostitution, they were admitted by Defendant-Appellant, Edward H. Chambers.

The evidence showed further that on or about March 25, 1965, Patrolman Weidinger and Mr. Shaw were again transported from Cincinnati, Ohio, to Covington, Kentucky, for the purpose of fulfilling a prostitution date. On that day they were again admitted to the same house by Defendant-Appellant, Edward H. Chambers.

Other evidence indicated overall participation on the part of Defendant-Appellant in the operation of the house of prostitution. Further, at the time of his arrest, the Defendant-Appellant attempted to dissuade persons calling by telephone from coming at the time the agents for the Federal Government were on the premises by shouting, when Officer Barry took the telephone, "Hang up, don't say anything."

The testimony of the Defendant-Appellant was that he was aware that prostitution was going on while he was working on the premises; that he was not in the employ of Bud Schweinefuss; that as a favor to Schweinefuss, he was only performing services that consisted solely of taking out the garbage, stoking the furnace and watching Schweinefuss's personal property in the house of prostitution.

We are of the opinion, from a review of the evidence that it was both logical and permissible for the jury to infer that Defendant-Appellant's relationship with co-conspirators Schweinefuss and the cab drivers from Cincinnati was to promote prostitution and to aid them in their interstate travel for the purpose of carrying on prostitution in the State of Kentucky. Defendant-Appellant actually was in charge of the illicit operations that were the inducement for the interstate travel. The evidence is clear that the intent of the cab drivers was to engage in an unlawful activity across a state line.

"* * * When a person engaged in an illegal business persistently disregards plain facts which are readily available to him, and there is an evident motive to ignore those facts, the law does not forbid a jury to reach the conclusion which rational men would reach in the circumstances. See United States v. Starkey, 52 F.Supp. 1, 3 (E.D.Ill.1943); United States v. Segelman, 86 F.Supp. 114, 121 (W.D. Pa.1949), Cf. Pereira v. United States, 347 U.S. 1, 12, 74 S.Ct. 358, 98 L.Ed. 435 (1954); Corey v. United States, 305 F.2d 232, 237 (9th Cir., 1962); Pilgrim v. United States, 266 F.2d 486, (5th Cir., 1959); Brubaker v. United States, 183 F.2d 894, 989 (6th Cir., 1959)." United States v. Zambito, 315 F.2d 266, 268 (4th Cir., 1963).

Circumstantial evidence is sufficient to sustain a conspiracy conviction. It need not be inconsistent with any conclusion save that of guilt, provided it establishes a case from which a jury can find defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

A person may be guilty of a conspiracy even though he has limited knowledge as to the scope of the conspiracy and no knowledge of details of the plan or operation in furtherance thereof or of the membership in the conspiracy or of the part played by each member and the division of the spoils. However, to sustain a conviction, the defendant must know the purpose of the conspiracy. United States v. Natale, D.C., 250 F.Supp. 381.

Proof of the requisite knowledge and intent on the part of conspirators need not be made by direct evidence. Indeed, it is a rare case in which such evidence may be found. The conspiracy may be shown by circumstantial evidence or permissible inferences or deductions from facts. United States v. Zuideveld, 316 F.2d 873, 878, (C.A.7, 1963).

This Court has previously held that once the existence of a conspiracy is established, slight evidence may be sufficient to connect a defendant with it. Poliafico v. United States, 6 Cir., 237 F.2d 97; United States v. Gosser, 6 Cir., 339 F.2d 102.

Defendant-Appellant further contends there was no evidence whatsoever that he traveled in interstate commerce. It is not a necessary element for conviction to show that a person physically traveled in interstate commerce. Where the substantive offense is committed by one or more conspirators in furtherance of an unlawful activity, all members of the conspiracy are guilty of the substantive offense. See Bass v. United States, 8 Cir., 324 F.2d 168; United States v. Zizzo, 7 Cir., 338 F.2d 577.

In addition, there is evidence to show that Defendant-Appellant would answer the telephone, which, coupled with the statements of the cab drivers who were making the arrangements that they used the telephone to make their initial contact prior to transporting persons across the State line for the purpose of engaging in the activity of prostitution, is...