United States v. Michael Lynn Wyncoop

The appellant, David Wyncoop, embezzled approximately $65,000 from Trend College, a private technical school where he was employed. Based on this conduct, he was indicted on one count of theft of federal funds in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 666 . After the district court refused to dismiss the indictment, appellant entered a conditional guilty plea, reserving the right to appeal the denial of his motion to dismiss. The question reserved for us to decide is whether the federal statute, 18 U.S.C. § 666 , applies to Wyn-coop’s crime.

I

Trend College in Portland, Oregon, employed the defendant, Michael Wyncoop, from October 25, 1990 through July 2, 1991. During the relevant period of his employment, he worked in Student Accounting where he was authorized to write checks on Trend College’s student body fund account. Wyncoop was also responsible for depositing student loan checks and vouchers into the College’s main fund account. In February 1991, Wyncoop began diverting student loan deposits into the student body fund account and embezzling money from the College by writing checks to his girlfriend on that account.

Defendant was indicted under 18 U.S.C. § 666 , which criminalizes…