US v. Wanda Perry

Filing

UNPUBLISHED PER CURIAM OPINION filed. Originating case number: 1:09-cr-00262-NCT-1 Copies to all parties and the district court/agency. [998594263].. [10-4678]

Appeal: 10-4678

Document: 46

Date Filed: 05/20/2011

Page: 1 of 4

UNPUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

No. 10-4678

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff – Appellee,
v.
WANDA DELORIS PERRY, a/k/a Wanda Denise Perry,
Defendant - Appellant.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle
District of North Carolina, at Greensboro.
N. Carlton Tilley,
Jr., Senior District Judge. (1:09-cr-00262-NCT-1)

Submitted:

May 3, 2011

Decided:

May 20, 2011

Before WILKINSON and DIAZ, Circuit Judges, and HAMILTON, Senior
Circuit Judge.

Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

J. Clark Fischer, RANDOLPH & FISCHER, Winston-Salem, North
Carolina, for Appellant. Ripley E. Rand, United States Attorney,
Paul
A.
Weinman,
Assistant
United
States
Attorney,
Winston-Salem, North Carolina, for Appellee.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.

Appeal: 10-4678

Document: 46

Date Filed: 05/20/2011

Page: 2 of 4

PER CURIAM:
A
counts

of

grand

jury

willfully

indicted

and

Wanda

knowingly

Denise

make

a

Perry

on

materially

five
false

statement and representation to a department of the executive
branch, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1001(a)(2) (2006).
also

charged

with

one

count

of

stealing,

She was

purloining,

and

converting to her own use approximately $20,311 that belonged to
the United States.
The trial jury found Perry guilty of all six charges
in the indictment; she was sentenced to sixteen months in prison
and ordered to pay a $600 assessment and $20,311 in restitution.
Perry appeals her conviction, contending that the district court
erred in denying her motion for judgment of acquittal because
the misrepresentations she made were not material.

We affirm.

This court reviews the denial of a Rule 29 motion de
novo.

United States v. Alerre, 430 F.3d 681, 693 (4th Cir.

2005).

In reviewing the sufficiency of the evidence following a

conviction, the court is to construe the evidence in the light
most favorable to the Government, assuming its credibility and
drawing all favorable inferences from it, and will sustain the
jury’s verdict if any rational trier of fact could have found
the essential elements of the crime charged beyond a reasonable
doubt.
2005);

United States v. Collins, 412 F.3d 515, 519 (4th Cir.
United

States

v.

Lomax,
2

293

F.3d

701,

705

(4th

Cir.

Appeal: 10-4678

Document: 46

2002).

“If

Date Filed: 05/20/2011

there

is

substantial

Page: 3 of 4

evidence

to

support

the

verdict, after viewing all of the evidence and the inferences
therefrom in the light most favorable to the Government,” the
court must affirm.
(4th Cir. 1994).
credibility
resolved

United States v. Murphy, 35 F.3d 143, 148

Furthermore, this court “cannot make [its] own

determinations

all

Government.”

but

contradictions

must

in

assume

testimony

that

in

the

favor

jury

of

the

United States v. United Med. & Surgical Supply

Corp., 989 F.2d 1390, 1402 (4th Cir. 1993).
To prove a violation of § 1001, the Government
must establish that (1) the defendant made a false
statement to a governmental agency or concealed a fact
from it or used a false document knowing it to be
false, (2) the defendant acted knowingly or willfully,
and (3) the false statement or concealed fact was
material to a matter within the jurisdiction of the
agency.
United

States

(internal

v.

Ismail,

quotation

marks

97

F.3d

50,

omitted).

“A

60
fact

(4th

Cir.

about

a

1996)
matter

within an agency's jurisdiction is material under § 1001 if it
has a natural tendency to influence agency action or is capable
Ismail, 97 F.3d at 60 (internal

of influencing agency action.”
quotation marks omitted).

Moreover, “[t]here is no requirement

that the false statement actually influence or effect [sic] the
decision

making

process

of

a

department.”

quotation marks and alterations omitted).

3

Id.

(internal

Appeal: 10-4678

Document: 46

The

Date Filed: 05/20/2011

evidence

is

Page: 4 of 4

overwhelming

that

the

Housing

Authority of Winston-Salem, which administered a program that
resulted in the expenditure of federal funds, actually relied on
Perry’s

misrepresentations

to

award

significant

benefits to her to which she was not entitled.

financial

We accordingly

conclude that the district court properly denied the motion for
judgment of acquittal and affirm the judgment of the district
court.
legal
before

We dispense with oral argument because the facts and
contentions
the

court

are

adequately

and

argument

presented

would

not

in
aid

the
the

materials
decisional

process.

AFFIRMED

4