UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Ted GORD, Defendant-Appellee

The government appeals the district court’s dismissal of Ted Gord’s indictment. We reverse and remand for trial.

I.

Ted Gord managed a smoke shop in Tacoma, Washington, known as the Thunderbird Trading Post. According to the indictment, Gord and co-conspirators knowingly and unlawfully received, possessed, and distributed cigarettes that did not have tax stamps required by Washington state law, and laundered millions of dollars from the scheme in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1956 (a)(l)(A)(i), 2341-2342.

The district court dismissed the indictment, adopting the opinion in a similar ease, United States v. Brigman, 874 F.Supp. 1125 (E.D.Wash.1994). The government appeals.

II.

The federal Contraband Cigarette Trafficking Act (CCTA) prohibits shipping, transporting, receiving, possessing, selling, distributing, or purchasing more than 60,000 cigarettes that “bear no evidence of the payment of applicable State cigarette taxes in the State where such cigarettes are found, if such State requires a stamp ... to be placed on packages or other containers of cigarettes to evidence payment of cigarette taxes.... ” 18 U.S.C. §§ 2341-2342 .

A violation of the state cigarette tax law is a…