United States v. Michael A. Riley

Michael A. Riley pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to produce fictitious obligations in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 514 (a)(2), one count of possession of fictitious obligations in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 514 (a)(2), and one count of identification fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1028 (a)(5) and (b)(l)(A)(ii). Riley was sentenced to 47 months’ imprisonment and now appeals that sentence. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 and 18 U.S.C. § 3742 (a). We vacate the sentence and remand for resentencing.

Riley’s convictions were based on his participation in a conspiracy to pass fictitious financial instruments. The conspiracy involved the passing of counterfeit and stolen personal and business checks, credit card convenience checks, and money orders. The individuals involved in the scheme included Riley, John Comoza, Timothy Hall, John Mott'er, Robert Neff, William Walter, and Edward Thaves. The conspiracy entailed removing checks from stolen mail and cashing them using counterfeit identifications. The identifications were created using computers owned by several of the conspiracy members. The stolen checks were also scanned into the computers and used as templates.…