US v. William Santana

Filing 920100120

UNPUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

No. 09-4302

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff - Appellee, v. WILLIAM MARTINEZ SANTANA, Hector Martinez-Guerrero, a/k/a William Martinez, a/k/a

Defendant - Appellant.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, at Raleigh. Terrence W. Boyle, District Judge. (5:08-cr-00316-BO-1)

Submitted:

January 14, 2010

Decided:

January 20, 2010

Before MOTZ, GREGORY, and SHEDD, Circuit Judges.

Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

Thomas P. McNamara, Federal Public Defender, Stephen C. Gordon, Assistant Federal Public Defender, Raleigh, North Carolina, for Appellant. George E. B. Holding, United States Attorney, David A. Bragdon, Anne M. Hayes, Assistant United States Attorneys, Raleigh, North Carolina, for Appellee.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.

PER CURIAM: William Martinez Santana appeals his convictions for aggravated identity theft, in violation of 18 U.S.C.

§ 1028A(a)(1) (2006), contending that there was an insufficient factual basis for his guilty plea in light of Flores-Figueroa v. United States, 129 S. Ct. 1886 (2009). Specifically, Santana

contends that there is no evidence in the record showing his knowledge that the means of identification involved in his

aggravated identity theft convictions belonged to actual people as required under § 1028A(a)(1). We affirm.

Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 11(b)(3) requires that the district court satisfy itself that there is a factual basis for the plea prior to entering judgment. Santana guilty did plea, not his move in the to district the court However, because to of withdraw the Rule his 11

challenge

adequacy

hearing is reviewed for plain error. 277 F.3d 517, 526 (4th Cir. 2002).

United States v. Martinez, A district court may find

the factual basis for the plea "from anything that appears on the record," and the court may defer its inquiry until

sentencing.

Id. at 531 (holding that court may satisfy factual

basis requirement by examining presentence report). Here, the presentence report states that Santana In

"stole the identity of actual people living in Puerto Rico."

addition, at the Rule 11 hearing, the Government proffered that 2

Santana

told

a

confidential

informant

that

he

could

obtain

"authentic" social security cards, driver's licenses, and birth certificates from Puerto Rico. Next, at sentencing, the

Government stated that "they were using real identities and real individuals in Puerto Rico." Further, these factual statements

were corroborated by the circumstances of the crime: (1) the documents were ordered from and sent from Puerto Rico, (2) the price was inflated because the documents were of "exceptional quality," and (3) the documents did in fact use the identities of real individuals. Santana has not challenged the accuracy of We hold that

these statements in district court or on appeal.

this factual description, to which Santana did not object, was sufficient to establish a factual basis for the conclusion that Santana knew that the means of identification involved in his crimes belonged to actual people. Accordingly, dispense with oral we affirm Santana's the convictions. facts and We

argument

because

legal

contentions are adequately presented in the materials before the court and argument would not aid the decisional process.

AFFIRMED

3