United States v. Maria Gonzalez-Torres

MEMORANDUM

Maria Gonzalez-Torres appeals the district court’s order striking from her criminal judgment a requirement that administratively forfeited drug proceeds be used to satisfy her mandatory restitution obligation for her food stamp fraud conviction. We affirm.

The district court’s restitution order was mandatory for Gonzalez’s crime of food stamp fraud. See 18 U.S.C. § 3663A. The Oregon Department of Human Services was the victim of the food stamp fraud, an offense distinct from the drug offense that generated $84,249 seized and forfeited from Gonzalez. Accordingly, the drug proceeds cannot be used to repay money she stole from the state’s food stamp program. See 18 U.S.C. § 981 (e)(6) (although the Attorney General is authorized to transfer forfeited property or funds under limited circumstances as restoration to “any victim of the offense giving rise to the forfeiture,” the Attorney General does not have the power to transfer forfeited funds to satisfy mandatory restitution orders as to a distinct offense).

Further, even if the forfeited money was generated from the same crime for which the court ordered restitution, only the Attorney General or his designee—not the…