United States v. Walker

• Decision Date: 19 October 1953
• Docket Number: No. 53 CR 198.,53 CR 198.
• Citation: 116 F. Supp. 863
• Parties: UNITED STATES v. WALKER.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of Illinois

116 F. Supp. 863

UNITED STATES v. WALKER.

No. 53 CR 198.

United States District Court N. D. Illinois.

October 19, 1953.

Otto Kerner, Jr., U. S. Atty., Chicago, Ill., for the United States.

Frank J. McAdams, Jr., McAdams & Kirby, Chicago, Ill., for defendant.

HOFFMAN, District Judge.

The defendant has moved to dismiss this indictment charging him with violation of Section 222, Title 7, U.S.C.A., the Packers and Stockyards Act, in that he caused a named individual to make false scale tickets in weighing hogs. It is the defendant's contention that the indictment is fatally defective because it does not (and could not) allege that a full and fair hearing was had, upon notice, by the Secretary of Agriculture, with an entry and subsequent disobedience, of a cease and desist order by the Secretary. The defendant also contends that the allegation that the act charged was "wilfully and knowingly" done is not sufficient, since it was an innocent act, and that the aspects of that act which made it criminal must be alleged.

The defendant asserts that the act here charged would fall within Section 221, Title 7, U.S.C.A., and not Section 222 as alleged in the indictment.

Section 222 provides:

"For the efficient execution of the provisions of this chapter, and in order to provide information for the use of Congress, the provisions (including penalties) of sections 46 and 48-50 of Title 15 are made applicable to the jurisdiction, powers, and duties of the Secretary in enforcing the provisions of this chapter and to any person subject to the provisions of this chapter * * *."

The indictment relies on Section 50, Title 15, U.S.C.A., which provides in part:

"Any person who shall willfully make, or cause to be made, any false entry or statement of fact in any report required to be made under sections 41-46 and 47-58 of this title, or who shall willfully make, or cause to be made, any false entry in any account, record, or memorandum kept by any corporation subject to said sections * * * shall be deemed guilty of an offense * * *."

Section 221, Title 7, U.S.C.A., which defendant feels is the only pertinent statute, provides:

"Every packer or any live poultry dealer or handler, stockyard owner, market agency, and dealer shall keep such accounts, records, and memoranda as fully and correctly disclose all transactions involved in his business, including * * *. Whenever the Secretary finds that the accounts, records, and memoranda of any such person do not fully and correctly disclose all transactions involved in his business, the Secretary may prescribe the manner and form in which such accounts, records, and memoranda shall be kept, and thereafter any such person who fails to keep such accounts, records, and memoranda in the manner and form prescribed or approved by the Secretary shall upon conviction be fined not more than $5,000, * * *."

While it might have been possible to construe the instant violations as within the purview of Section 221 as quoted, and that a prerequisite to indictment thereunder would have been a finding by the Secretary and an order by him and a violation thereof, nevertheless the instant indictment was not brought under that Section but under Section 222, incorporating by reference provisions of the Federal Trade Commission Act, specifically ...