United States v. Tripodis
| Decision Date | 20 December 2019 |
| Docket Number | CRIMINAL CASE NO. 1:18-CR-00240-TWT-JFK |
| Parties | UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. EVERETT TRIPODIS, MARK WILSON, JANELL PAYNE, KAKAWANA TATE, ANTONIO TYLER and QUENTIN BERRY, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Northern District of Georgia |
Pending before the court are Defendant Everett Tripodis' motion [Doc. 97] to dismiss Counts 2-11 and 14-16 of the indictment, motion [Doc. 98] to suppress evidence, motion [Doc. 100] to dismiss Count 17, motion [Doc. 101] to dismiss Counts 2-10, motion [Doc. 102] to strike surplusage, motion [Doc. 103] for a bill of particulars, and motion [Doc. 104] to dismiss Counts 15 and 16. Also pending before the court are Defendant Mark Wilson's motion [Doc. 117] to suppress out-of-court identification, motion [Doc. 118] to sever, motion [Doc. 130] to dismiss Count 17, and motion [Doc. 131] to dismiss Counts 2-10.1 Finally, pending before the court areDefendant Tripodis', filing pro se, motion [Doc. 187] to compel discovery, motion [Doc. 188] to dismiss Counts 6 and 7, and motion [Doc. 189] to dismiss Count 17.
Defendant Tripodis contends that Counts 2-11 and 14-16 of the indictment should be dismissed for failure to state an offense [Doc. 97], that Count 17 should be dismissed for lack of venue [Doc. 100], that Counts 2-10 should be dismissed for lack of venue and jurisdiction [Doc. 101] and that Counts 15-16 should be dismissed for multiplicity [Doc. 104]. And primarily in conjunction with the alleged pleading insufficiency in Counts 2-11, Defendant Tripodis seeks a bill of particulars. [Doc. 103]. Defendant Wilson was granted leave to adopt Tripodis' motions to dismiss counts 2-10 and 17 for lack of venue. The motions were docketed at #130 and #131.2 The Government responded opposing the motions to dismiss and for a bill of particulars with the exception of conceding that, as currently plead, Counts 15 and 16 are multiplitious.3 [Doc. 161 at 3]. Accordingly, the court recommends granting Defendant Tripodis' motion [Doc. 104] to dismiss Counts 15 and 16 as multiplitious.Defendant Tripodis filed reply briefs [Docs. 175, 176, 177] to the remaining motions to dismiss and for a bill of particulars. Due to the fact that Defendant's reply brief in support of the motion to dismiss Counts 2-11 and 14-16 included grounds for dismissal not presented in the motion to dismiss, the court ordered the Government to file a supplemental response [Doc. 186] addressing the newly raised grounds for dismissal.
A federal grand jury sitting in the Northern District of Georgia returned a seventeen count indictment against Defendants Tripodis and Wilson, along with co-Defendants Payne, Tate, Tyler and Berry on June 26, 2018. Count 1 charged a conspiracy, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371, against all Defendants to commit the federal offenses of "knowingly and unlawfully remov[ing], obliterat[ing], tamper[ing] with, and alter[ing] an identification number for a motor vehicle [("VIN")]," in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 511(a); of "devis[ing] and intend[ing] to devise any scheme or artifice to defraud, and for the purpose of executing such scheme and artifice and attempting to do so, knowingly caus[ing] any matter or thing to be delivered by mail and any private or commercial interstate carrier" or "to be transmitted by means of wire, radio, and television communications in interstate and foreign commerce, anywritings, signs, signals, pictures, or sounds," in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1341 or § 1343; and of "receiv[ing], possess[ing], conceal[ing], stor[ing], barter[ing], sell[ing], and dispos[ing] of any motor vehicle which has crossed a State and United States boundary after being stolen, knowing the same to have been stolen," in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2313(a). [Doc. 1 ¶ 1].
As background, the indictment alleges that every motor vehicle, since the 1981 model year, has a unique seventeen-digit VIN providing specific production and other identifying information. [Id. ¶ 2]. Typically when a vehicle is stolen, the VIN is entered into national data bases making it more difficult for a car thief to subsequently sell the stolen vehicle for lack of a valid title. Consequently, the car thief needs to obtain a "clean title" that matches the make and model of the stolen vehicle and to alter the VIN on the stolen vehicle to match the VIN on the "clean title." [Id. ¶ 3]. A car thief utilizes various internet searches for registered vehicles for matches with the stolen vehicle in order to obtain a fraudulent duplicate title, and then the thief replaces the VIN on the stolen vehicle to match the VIN on the duplicate title - known as "cloning." [Id. ¶ 4].
The indictment further alleges, as part of the manner and means of conducting the charged conspiracy, that "conspirators obtained title information on vehicles onthe S.S. website[,] . . . a fee-based, web-based company that provides national motor vehicle registration information, vehicle collision records, driver safety profiles, driving records, and other information" for use primarily by insurers and employers. S.S. offices are in New Mexico, and web-based customers are served by computer servers located in Virginia. "Consequently, every internet inquiry of S.S.'s information on vehicle registrations is conducted via an interstate wire-transmission." [Id. ¶ 5]. Conspirators set up a fraudulent account with S.S. using the name "K.C." with a physical address in Macon, Georgia, an email address of "insurance247inc@gmail.com," and a contact number of 478-258-4927. The contact information was false, and the phone number was assigned to a cell phone Defendant Tripodis possessed on April 26, 2016. The email account was used to search the S.S. website for vehicle registration information between January and September 2016; however, other sources were also used. [Id. ¶¶ 6-8]. Defendant Tripodis used the S.S. website and other sources to obtain vehicle registration information which was then used to obtain fraudulent duplicate vehicle titles from at least Tennessee and Florida. Defendant Tripodis taught Defendant Tate, who then taught Defendant Payne, how to conduct the searches and obtain duplicate titles. [Id. ¶ 9]. Tripodis, Tate and Payne either searched the S.S. website for a similar make and model for vehicles alreadystolen or would steal vehicles matching vehicle registration information that had been obtained. [Id. ¶ 10]. If a conspirator lacked access to the S.S. website, Tripodis either sold that conspirator a duplicate title for $3,500-$5,000 or would trade a stolen vehicle for a duplicate title. [Id. ¶ 11]. Once the conspirators had a fraudulent duplicate title for a stolen vehicle, the VIN plates on the stolen vehicle were changed to match the VIN on the duplicate title in order for the vehicle to be sold and to allow the buyer to register the vehicle using the cloned VIN. [Id. ¶ 12].
The following overt acts were alleged as part of the charged conspiracy. On December 20, 2015, Tripodis and Wilson and others unknown stole eight Bentley vehicles from Alpharetta, Georgia, and on January 8, 2016, Tate obtained fraudulent duplicate titles for four of the Bentleys. On January 12, 2016, in College Park, Georgia, Tripodis abandoned one stolen Bentley, and on April 7, 2016, another stolen 2016 Bentley GT, with a fraudulent cloned VIN based on a fraudulent duplicate Florida title, was recovered in New Orleans. [Id. ¶ 13]. On February 24, 2016, Tripodis, Wilson and Tate stole a 2010 Audi S4 sedan and a 2015 Audi Q7 SUV in Knoxville, Tennessee, and drove the vehicles to the Northern District of Georgia. On February 26, 2016, Tripodis used the previously identified email account to search the S.S. website and obtained registration information for another 2010 Audi S4 registeredin Tennessee and, on February 29, 2016, using that information, obtained a fraudulent duplicate title and cloned VIN for the stolen 2010 Audi S4. On May 27, 2016, Wilson was found driving the stolen 2010 Audi S4 with the cloned VIN. [Id. ¶ 14].
On February 27, 2016, Tripodis and Wilson stole a 2016 white GMC Yukon Denali SUV in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and drove the vehicle to the Northern District of Georgia. On February 28, 2016, Tripodis used the email account to search the S.S. website and obtained registration information for another 2016 GMC Yukon Denali SUV registered in Maryland and, on March 1, 2016, using that information, obtained a fraudulent duplicate Tennessee title. On March 3, 2016, Tripodis sent text messages to C.G. offering the stolen Yukon for sale, which was subsequently purchased by R.L. from C.G. on March 11, 2016; and R.L. used the fraudulent duplicate title to register the Yukon in Alabama. On June 23, 2016, the Yukon, with a cloned VIN from the Maryland Yukon, was recovered. [Id. ¶ 15]. On March 26, 2016, Tripodis and Berry stole a 2015 Z06 Corvette in the Northern District of Georgia, and on July 5, 2016, Tripodis used the email account to search the S.S. website and obtained registration information for another 2015 Corvette registered in Florida. On July 7, 2016, using that information, Tate obtained a fraudulent duplicate Florida title using that cloned VIN. On August 6, 2016, Tyler stated he was planning on selling the stolen Z06 withthe fraudulent title for $27,000, and, on August 7, 2016, the stolen Z06, with the cloned VIN, was found in Florida. [Id. ¶ 16]. Also, on July 5, 2016, Tate traveled to Florida. On July 6, 2016, using Payne's telephone, Payne and Tripodis, who was in Georgia, spoke with Tate; Tate asked Tripodis for $400 which Tripodis authorized Payne to send; she did so by interstate wire. [Id.].
And on November 3-6, 2016, Tyler stole a 2016 Dodge 3500 Ram truck in South Carolina, drove the vehicle to the Northern District of Georgia, and then provided the truck to Payne who paid Tyler with fraudulently obtained duplicate...
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