UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Gary D. RUSTER, Defendant-Appellant

Ruster appeals from his conviction on six, counts charging filing applications for Supplemental Security Income under false and fraudulent names and social security numbers, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 287 . At trial, he did not dispute the government’s allegation that he had fraudulently collected a total of $134,590 in disability payments, but claimed insanity. He was fined $60,000 and sentenced to three consecutive five-year prison terms and five years probation.

I. Dismissal of Indictment.

Ruster appeals from the denial of his motion to dismiss the indictment on the ground that he should not have been prosecuted under 18 U.S.C. § 287 , but under 42 U.S.C. § 408 .

Title 18, Section 287, the general false claims statute, states:

Title 42, Section 408, provided during the relevant time period that:

Ruster prefers the lesser penalty of § 408.

We do not infer from the enactment of a specific statute that Congress intended to preempt, supersede, or impliedly repeal a more general statute that proscribes the same conduct. United States v. Mackie, 9 Cir., 1982, 681 F.2d 1121,1122-1123 . As we said in United States v. Jones, 9 Cir., 1979, 607 F.2d 269 :

p. 271. We find nothing…