Loughrin v. United States (573 U.S. 351)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided June 23, 2014 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 573 U.S. 351 · 134 S. Ct. 2384
- Decided
- June 23, 2014
- Term
- October Term 2013
- Vote
- 9–0
- Majority author
- Justice Kagan
- Issue area
- Criminal Procedure
- Disposition
- Affirmed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party lost
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
Justice KAGAN delivered the opinion of the Court. A provision of the federal bank fraud statute, 18 U.S.C. § 1344(2), makes criminal a knowing scheme to obtain property owned by, or in the custody of, a bank "by means of false or fraudulent pretenses, representations, or promises." The question presented is whether the Government must prove that a defendant charged with violating that provision intended to defraud a bank. We hold that the Government need not make that showing. I Petitioner Kevin Loughrin executed a scheme to convert altered or forged checks into cash. Pretending to be a Mormon missionary going door-to-door in a neighborhood in Salt Lake City, he rifled through residential mailboxes and stole any checks he found. Sometimes, he washed, bleached, ironed, and dried the checks to remove the existing writing, and then filled them out as he wanted; other times, he did nothing more than cross out the name of the original payee and add another. And when he was lucky enough to stumble upon a blank check, he completed it and forged the accountholder's signature. Over several months, Loughrin made out six of these checks to the retailer Target, for amounts of up to $250. His modus operandi was to go to a local store and, posing as the accountholder, present an altered check to a cashier to purchase merchandise. After the cashier accepted the check (which, remarkably…
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