EFTA01736057.pdf

Page 1 1 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF FLORIDA 2 Case No. 10-80015-CR-MARRA 3 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 4 GOVERNMENT, ) 5 ) -v- ) 6 ) ALFREDO RODRIGUEZ, ) 7 ) DEFENDANT. ) West Palm Beach, Florida 8 ) June 18, 2010 ) 9 10 TRANSCRIPT OF SENTENCING PROCEEDINGS 11 BEFORE THE HONORABLE KENNETH A. MARRA 12 UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE 13 14 Appearances: 15 FOR THE GOVERNMENT Ann Marie C. Villafana, AUSA 500 East Broward Boulevard, 16 7th Floor, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33394 17 18 FOR THE DEFENDANT Dave Lee Brannon, AFPD 450 Australian Avenue, 19 Suite 500, West Palm Beach, FL 33401 20 21 Reporter Stephen W. Franklin, RMR, CRR, CPE (561)514-3768 Official Court Reporter 22 701 Clematis Street, Suite 417 West Palm Beach, Florida 33401 23 24 25 EFTA_R 1_00020194 EFTA01736057  Page 2 1 (Call to the order of the Court.) 2 THE COURT: Good morning, please be seated. 3 We're here in the case of the United States of 4 America versus Alfredo Rodriguez, Case 5 Number 10-80015-CR-MARRA. 6 May I have counsel state their appearances, please. 7 MS. VILLAFANA: Good morning, Your Honor. Mario 8 Villafana, for the United States. With me is special agent 9 Christina Prior (phonetic), from the FBI. 10 THE COURT: Good morning. 11 MR. BRANNON: Good morning, Judge. Dave Lee Brannon, 12 Assistant Federal Public Defender, on behalf of Alfredo 13 Rodriguez, who's present in court. We also have some members 14 of his family present in court that I'll mention later. 15 THE COURT: All right. Good morning. 16 We are here for sentencing. Have both sides reviewed 17 the presentence investigation report? 18 MS. VILLAFANA: Yes, Your Honor. 19 MR. BRANNON: Yes, sir. 20 THE COURT: Has the Defendant reviewed it with 21 counsel? 22 MR. BRANNON: Yes, sir. 23 THE COURT: Okay. And all the objections were 24 resolved; is that correct? 25 MR. BRANNON: Yes, sir. EFTA_R1_00020195 EFTA01736058  Page 1 THE COURT: So I will adopt the findings of the 2 presentence report as the findings of the Court. 3 Ms. Villafana, what's the Government's position 4 regarding sentencing? 5 MS. VILLAFANA: Your Honor, we would ask that the 6 Court impose a sentence at the low end of the advisory 7 guideline range. I think in accordance with the 3553(a) 8 factors that is an appropriate sentence. 9 In particular, the Court is required to consider the 10 type of the offense, the facts and circumstances of the 11 offense. In this case, the Defendant obstructed a very 12 significant investigation into the exploitation of young women 13 here in Palm Beach County, and he knew about the significance 14 of the evidence that he had, and he made a decision that 15 although he knew he was required to turn it over, he wanted to 16 get money for that document rather than turn it over to law 17 enforcement or to turn it over in response to civil subpoenas. 18 The Court is required to consider how to promote 19 respect for the law and how to deter others. Since you are 20 involved in the civil litigation, I know that you are well 21 aware of the facts of the case, and obstruction was a 22 significant consideration in this case. There was great 23 difficulty getting witnesses to assist and come forward in the 24 case and respond to requests of law enforcement for evidence. 25 In this case, we do believe that 24 months is an EFTA_R1_00020196 EFTA01736059  Page 4 1 appropriate sentence. The Defendant, after entering his 2 guilty plea in this case, went on to commit additional crimes 3 which are the subject of a separate indictment and which will 4 be the subject of a separate sentencing, but I do believe that 5 the Court should consider them in determining what sentence is 6 appropriate for this defendant. 7 THE COURT: What is the status of the other case? 8 MS. VILLAFANA: My understanding from talking to the 9 AUSA down there is that the Defendant does intend to enter a 10 guilty plea within the next couple weeks in that case. 11 THE COURT: Thank you. 12 Mr. Brannon? 13 MR. BRANNON: Thank you, Judge. 14 First, I would note to the Court that I provided some 15 submissions for sentencing yesterday, a number of family 16 letters. 17 THE COURT: I read them. 18 MR. BRANNON: Thank you, sir. 19 We have present in court today showing their love and 20 support for Mr. Rodriguez his wife, Patricia Dunn, who has a 21 letter she's going to read to the Court in just a minute, his 22 daughter, Christina Rodriguez, who provided a letter already 23 to the Court and will not be speaking, and his stepson, 24 Christopher Dunn, who didn't provide a letter but will very 25 briefly address the Court. EFTA_R1_00020197 EFTA01736060  Page 5 1 With the Court's permission, I'll have them go ahead 2 and come on up and speak to the Court, and then I'll go into 3 my allocution. 4 THE COURT: All right. Certainly. 5 MR. BRANNON: Okay. Mr. Dunn, would you come 6 forward. 7 THE WITNESS: Good morning. 8 THE COURT: Your name, please? 9 THE WITNESS: Christopher Dunn. 10 I just wanted to say a few words about my stepfather. 11 I've actually been here before when I was studying law back in 12 high school, but I never thought I'd be here in these 13 circumstances. It's just -- it's -- I don't know how to say 14 this. It's not in character for my stepfather. This was the 15 man that, more than after maybe myself, was the biggest moral 16 anchor in my life. He would always say things like, you need 17 to do the right thing no matter what. There was no 18 explanation, it was just to be done, and that things had to be 19 done by the book. That, you know, you had to put other people 20 first and worry about other people. 21 And this isn't -- this isn't -- this scene isn't 22 where he belongs. He's -- I don't know if you can call 23 anybody perfect, but he -- I can call him a good man. And he 24 may be desperate at times, even ignorant of things at times 25 and not always right, but he's good at heart. EFTA_R1_00020198 EFTA01736061  Page 6 1 You know, I don't know if this helps or hurts, but a 2 few months ago, actually months ago, I was -- I actually -- 3 I've been reading more. I've -- I pray for my family, and I 4 pray for a lot of things, and I'm thankful for a lot, but I 5 don't know if I should regret this, but I prayed a long time 6 ago before, before any of this, that as good as Alfredo was, 7 wanted to make him a better man, as good as one can be, and I 8 actually prayed that something would come about to where he 9 could see the light and become closer with God. 10 And I knew what -- I mean, I'm not a fool. I know a 11 lot of people don't change until they're traumatized, you 12 know, for the better, and I knew what I was praying for was a 13 trauma. I even thought it to myself. I didn't know. I guess 14 mysterious ways indeed. I didn't know what I was praying for 15 specifically, but I knew he needed something to jolt him to 16 become even better than he already was. And as also this has 17 been passing and all these things have been happening, the 18 silver lining is really that I've seen him become more of a 19 Bible man, you know. He listens to the Word more. He's been 20 quoting me. He's been quoting to me the words, and I've seen 21 a good man transform into an even better man. 22 Thank you. 23 THE COURT: Thank you. 24 MR. BRANNON: And Ms. Dunn, I believe you bade 25 letter you want to read to the Judge? EFTA_R1_00020199 EFTA01736062  Page 7 1 THE WITNESS: Yes. 2 THE COURT: Good morning. 3 Your name, please? 4 THE WITNESS: Good morning. 5 THE COURT: Your name? 6 THE WITNESS: Patricia Dunn. 7 THE COURT: Patricia? 8 THE WITNESS: Yes, Dunn, D-u-n-n. 9 THE COURT: Can you spell your first name? 10 THE WITNESS: Patricia, P-a-t-r-i-c-i-a. 11 THE COURT: Thank you. 12 THE WITNESS: Your Honor, it was difficult for me to 13 write something on behalf of Alfredo Rodriguez because he's 14 the least person that I could think would ever need your 15 mercy. Alfredo has always been respectful, determined, 16 honest, caring, helpful, a great father, a great husband and a 17 great friend. I have shared my life with Alfredo for the past 18 17 years. After my first husband pass away, he helped me 19 raise my two children as well as his three children. He gave 20 all of them nothing but love, commitment and great example. 21 Alfredo has been taught all his life to be good, to be a good 22 citizen and excel at whatever he did. He proudly taught this 23 to all our children. 24 Alfredo has the honor to say that his grandfather was 25 tae only Bolivian lawyer to be seated at the House of Lords in EFTA_R 1_00020200 EFTA01736063  Page 8 1 England where he was serving as an ambassador to Bolivia. His 2 grandfather was a great example for Alfredo and our siblings. 3 Alfredo attended the Bolivian air force academy and 4 later attended the United States Air Force. He has -- 5 THE COURT: Ms. Dunn, can you slow down, pleasel 6 Because the court reporter is having trouble. 7 THE WITNESS: I'm sorry. 8 THE COURT: That's all right. Just relax and speak a 9 little more slowly. 10 THE WITNESS: You want me to repeat the last 11 sentence? 12 THE COURT: Yes, please. 13 THE WITNESS: Alfredo attended the Bolivian air force 14 academy, and later he attended the United States Air Force. 15 He has lived in this country for more than 30 years. And even 16 though sometimes times were difficult, he always kept his 17 straight path without breaking the law. 18 What he's going through right now, it is out of 19 character for him. He always told all of our children to do 20 good, not to turn away from their goals, to go to schoc: 21 to help others. He wanted to inject the good in our 22 children's DNA. 23 We as a family need Alfredo. He's our pillar. 24 Please do not let the moment of weakness or need or mostly 25 ignorance to ruin his life and most of our lives. Please, EFTA_R1_00020201 EFTA01736064  Page 9 1 sir, give him the opportunity to be free and to be with us. 2 We need him. 3 Thank you. 4 THE COURT: Thank you. 5 MR. BRANNON: Your Honor, this is not our normal 6 case. I don't really feel I can comment too much about the 7 Miami matter since that is pending, even though I 8 understand -- my understanding of the resolution is the same 9 as the Government's. 10 Mr. Rodriguez had made a good living as a house man 11 to the wealthy, and that's reflected in several paragraphs in 12 the PSI. I think one of the things that a lot of people don't 13 understand is that his having any connection at all to 14 Mr. Epstein, once that particular story became well-known, 15 entirely finished that line of work for him. Frankly, none of 16 the wealthy wanted to be associated with anybody that had 17 anything to do with what happened at Mr. Epstein's house. 18 even though Alfredo did good work and a lot of people had 19 thought a lot of him and he had worked for a lot of other 20 people in the past, once that fact became known and once they 21 could do a background check or a Google search on 22 Mr. Rodriguez and see his name tied to Mr. Epstein, they were 23 not interested. They didn't want to have him working with 24 them. So he hit some real economic hard times. 25 One thing I don't think any of us are real clear EFTA_R1_00020202 EFTA01736065  Page 10 1 at -- and you know that the central point in this obstruction 2 charge is the book that has been mentioned. I don't know at 3 what point Mr. Rodriguez became aware that he actually had the 4 book. One of the things that Mr. Rodriguez did was he live° 5 at Mr. Epstein's estate. And when he left Mr. Epstein's 6 employment, a lot of stuff got packed up and put away. One of 7 those things was a copy of the book, of which there were many 8 copies, and Mr. Rodriguez had one as Mr. Epstein's house man. 9 There came a point at which he was aware that he had 10 the book. I can imagine if I was packing up my office, I'm 11 not sure how long I would know that I had everything that I 12 had in the boxes until I started going through them and see 13 them. 14 He did cooperate in the early stages of the 15 investigation. He's mentioned in news reports where he had 16 given information and papers over to the Palm Beach Police 17 Department when they investigated. 18 He has been a good family man. That's been reflected 19 in the letters. We are cooperating with the Government now 20 and will continue to cooperate with the Government. 21 I think one of the things that we do have to consider 22 in deciding what is an appropriate sentence in this case is 23 what happened to Mr. Epstein. It is difficult for me to 24 justify Mr. Rodriguez getting a sentence greater than 25 Mr. Epstein received, and Mr. Epstein received a sentence 0: EFTA_R 1_00020203 EFTA01736066  Page 11 1 18 months in the stockade on some very serious charges. I can 2 introduce a copy of the nonprosecution agreement into the 3 record if the Court wishes me to. 4 THE COURT: I'm familiar with it. 5 MR. BRANNON: Okay. I don't want to necessarily put 6 that in the record unless we need to have it in the record. 7 So I would ask the Court to consider that as an 8 appropriate sentence in this case. I know that's a sentence 9 below the guideline range, but I think when we look at how 10 society views results, I think there's just something that 11 doesn't look quite right for Mr. Epstein's house man to get a 12 greater sentence for what he's done than Mr. Epstein did for 13 what he's done, which is substantially worse. 14 So I would ask the Court to sentence Mr. Rodriguez to 15 a sentence of 18 months. 16 THE COURT: All right. Thank you. 17 Does Mr. Rodriguez wish to say anything? 18 THE DEFENDANT: Your Honor, I'm not going to make 19 this long, but like my wife and my kids, I always told them to 20 do the right thing, and I sent them to college to push to 21 higher education. But I'm really sorry for what I did, and 22 just pray that the Court to be merciful to me, sir 23 THE COURT: Thank you. 24 THE DEFENDANT: Thank you, sir. 25 THE COURT: Ms. Villafana, what do you have le. say EFTA_R1_00020204 EFTA01736067  Page 12 1 about the somewhat logical argument that maybe Mr. Rodriguez 2 shouldn't get worse than Mr. Epstein did in his plea agreement 3 with the State? 4 MS. VILLAFANA: I certainly understand the logic. 5 know that if he had gotten the two-level reduction for 6 acceptance, he would have been at that same sentence of 18 7 months at the low end. He didn't get the two-level reduction 8 for acceptance because the day of his change of plea, he went 9 and drove down to Miami and conducted a purchase of various 10 firearms with an undercover officer, which is why the twc 11 levels were added. So that's certainly a difference. 12 Another difference is that while I can't -- I 13 obviously don't have a crystal ball, and I can't say what 14 would have happened if this evidence had come to light during 15 the pendency of the grand jury investigation, what I can say 16 is that there were significant issues related to federal 17 prosecution of the Epstein case in terms of the interstate 18 nexus between the crimes that were under investigation. Some 19 of the information contained in the book that Mr. Rodriguez 20 had, as well as other information that he was able to provide 21 once he was cooperating post-arrest, would have answered the 22 questions that were raised regarding that interstate nexus. 23 So would that have meant that there definitely would have been 24 a federal prosecution? I can't say for certain. Would that 25 significantly have advanced the ball? Yes. EFTA_R 1_00020205 EFTA01736068  Page 13 1 THE COURT: Mr. Brannon mentioned that there were 2 other copies of this book. I thought he said there were many 3 copies of this book. Is that true as far as you're concerned? 4 And how and when did these other copies come to light? 5 MS. VILLAFANA: No other copies have come to the 6 light of any federal investigator, but our understanding from 7 interviewing Mr. Rodriguez was that multiple copies of that 8 book were made and were kept at Mr. Epstein's homes throughout 9 the world, but none of them were ever either found during the 10 search of Mr. Epstein's home in Palm Beach, and obviously no 11 other search warrants were ever executed on his islands or any 12 of his other residences. So this is the only copy that's 13 known to law enforcement. 14 THE COURT: Oh, but he contends that there were other 15 copies? 16 MS. VILLAFANA: Yes. And I think from seeing the 17 book, I think that that's true. 18 THE COURT: Okay. So he lost his two points for 19 acceptance because of the gun charge? 20 MS. VILLAFANA: Yes. 21 MR. BRANNON: Actually, Judge, I think it was three 22 points for acceptance, because we're at an offense level 17. 23 It would be 16 or greater. He would have gotten a three-level 24 reduction for acceptance. His guidelines with acceptance 25 would have been 15 to 21 months. EFTA_R1_00020206 EFTA01736069  Page 14 1 MS. VILLAFANA: Okay. Right. So -- but he's at a 17 2 now, which is 24 to 30, and he would have been at a 14, which 3 would have been, right, 15 to 21. 4 THE COURT: All right. So he would have gotten 15? 5 You would have been recommending 15 if he hadn't been involved 6 in the gun charge? 7 MS. VILLAFANA: That's correct. 8 THE COURT: And he's obviously going to get punished 9 for the gun charge separate and apart from what happens here 10 if he pleads guilty and is convicted one way or the other. 11 MS. VILLAFANA: Correct. 12 THE COURT: All right. Anything else? 13 MR. BRANNON: No, sir. 14 THE COURT: All right. The Court has considered the 15 statements of all the parties, the presentence report, which 16 contains the advisory guidelines, as well as the statutory 17 factors set forth in 18 U.S.C., Section 3553(a)(1) through 18 (7). 19 It is the finding of the Court the Defendant is no. 20 able to pay a fine. 21 Now, in imposing sentence, the Court has to considc 22 the statutory factors of 3553, which require the Court to 23 consider the nature and circumstances of the offense, which 24 this case are significant because of the impact it had on the 25 investigation of Mr. Epstein. And much has been said and EFTA_R1_00020207 EFTA01736070  Page 15 1 written about the sentence that Mr. Epstein received for the 2 crimes to which he's pled guilty, and if this book had been 3 produced when requested things may have been different. So in 4 one sense when we compare the sentence that's going to be 5 imposed in this case to what Mr. Epstein got, if this book had 6 been produced, Mr. Epstein's sentence might have been 7 significantly different. But he got what he got, and I think 8 that's a factor to be considered in this case. 9 The history and characteristics of this defendant up 10 until this incident and this gun incident, he's had an 11 exemplary life. And I don't know what has brought about this 12 change in his behavior, but two incidents so close together is 13 somewhat troubling. 14 The Court has to consider the need for the sentence 15 imposed to reflect the seriousness of the offense, to promote 16 respect for the law and to provide just punishment. 17 The Court has to consider the need to protect the 18 public from further crimes of the Defendant, which I really 19 don't think is too much of a concern. I don't think 20 Mr. Rodriguez is going to be in any more trouble after he 21 finishes his sentence for this case and whatever sentence, 22 any, may be imposed for the gun case. 23 Also, the Court has to consider the need to afford 24 adequate deterrence to criminal conduct by others and has to 25 consider the need to avoid unwarranted sentencing disparities EFTA_R1_00020208 EFTA01736071  Page 16 1 among defendants with similar records who have been found 2 guilty of similar conduct. 3 So if you look at this particular incident, his 4 guidelines would be 15 to, what is it, 18 months, or 21? 5 MR. BRANNON: Fifteen to 21, Judge. 6 THE COURT: Fifteen to 21 months if he hadn't been 7 involved in the gun charge. He's going to get, if he's going 8 to plead guilty, which I'm told he probably will -- and 9 whether he pleads guilty or not, from what I understand of the 10 case, it's likely he's going to get convicted one way or the 11 other anyway. So he's going to get punished for that gur 12 charge separate and apart from what happens here, so I don't 13 know that it makes sense to have to increase his punishment 14 here because of a gun charge that he's going to get punished 15 for independently. 16 And there is some logic to the argument that 17 Mr. Rodriguez here shouldn't be punished more severely than 18 Mr. Epstein, who did significantly more egregious things than 19 Mr. Rodriguez did. Although, as I said, if this information 20 had come to light sooner, maybe Mr. Epstein situation would 21 have turned out differently. 22 But taking into consideration the fact that he is 23 going to be punished for his gun charge separately, and that 24 would have affected his guideline, and Mr. Epstein's sentence 25 was less than his guidelines here, I think a sentence below EFTA_R 1_00020209 EFTA01736072  Page 17 1 the advisory guideline range would be sufficient but not 2 greater than necessary to comply with the factors under 3553. 3 So I am going to impose a sentence below the advisory 4 guideline range. 5 Pursuant to the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984, it is 6 the judgment of the Court that the Defendant, Alfredo 7 Rodriguez, is hereby committed to the custody of the Bureau of 8 Prisons to be imprisoned for a term of 18 months. Upon 9 release from imprisonment, the Defendant shall be placed on 10 supervised release for a term of two years. 11 Within 72 hours of his release, the Defendant shall 12 report in person to the probation office in the district where 13 he's released. 14 While on supervised release, the Defendant shall not 15 commit any crimes, he shall be prohibited from possessing a 16 firearm or other dangerous devices, and he shall not possess a 17 controlled substance. 18 He shall cooperate in the collection of DNA and shall 19 comply with the standard conditions of supervised release that 20 have been adopted by this court, as well as the following 21 special conditions: Financial disclosure requirement and 22 permissible search, as noted in Part G of the presentence 23 report. 24 The Defendant shall also immediately pay to the 25 United States a special assessment of 5100. EFTA_R1_00020210 EFTA01736073  Page 18 1 Total sentence is 18 months' imprisonment, two years' 2 supervised release and a $100 special assessment. 3 Now that sentence has been imposed, does the 4 Defendant or his counsel object to the Court's findings of 5 fact or the manner in which sentence was pronounced? 6 MR. BRANNON: No, sir. We do have one request of the 7 Court. 8 THE COURT: Yes. 9 MR. BRANNON: We would ask the Court to recommend the 10 Miami area as the place of incarceration. 11 THE COURT: I'll make that recommendation. 12 Any objection from the Government? 13 MS. VILLAFANA: No, Your Honor. 14 THE COURT: Mr. Rodriguez, you have the right to 15 appeal the sentence that's been imposed. If you wish to file 16 an appeal, you must file your notice of appeal within 14 days 17 from the date judgment's entered in this case. And if you are 18 unable to pay for the cost of the appeal, you may seek leave 19 to file the appeal in forma pauperis. 20 Good luck to you, sir. Thank you. 21 (Proceedings concluded.) 22 23 24 25 EFTA_R1_00020211 EFTA01736074  Page 19 1 * * * * * 2 CERTIFICATE 3 I, Stephen W. Franklin, Registered Merit Reporter, and 4 Certified Realtime Reporter, certify that the foregoing is a 5 correct transcript from the record of proceedings in the 6 above-entitled matter. 7 Dated this 22nd day of JUNE, 2010. 8 9 /s/Stephen W. Franklin 10 Stephen W. Franklin, RMR, CRR 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 EFTA_R1_00020212 EFTA01736075