In March 2013, 38-year-old Jason Glynn was indicted by a federal grand jury in Nashville, Tennessee on charges of conspiracy, mail and bank fraud, and aggravated identity theft. The grand jury alleged that Glynn and other co-workers at Western Express, Inc., a trucking company, orchestrated a scheme to submit false claims for damages caused by company trucks. Glynn was a claims adjuster responsible for claims of less than $10,000.
Glynn went to trial in U.S. District Court in December 2015. Two co-workers—Jamie Little, another claims adjuster, and Leo Rice, who worked in recruiting and dispatch—had agreed to testify against him. Both would later plead guilty for their part in the alleged scheme and were sentenced to probation.
The indictment alleged that they sought individuals who agreed to allow their names to be used as claimants seeking damages caused by Western Express trucks. The claims were false, and paperwork that purported to settle the claims was filed and approved. The indictment alleged that Little and Rice provided the names of friends who, after receiving checks, cashed them and kicked back money to Little and Rice. Glynn was accused of forging signatures on five checks totaling just over $48,000 and depositing them to his bank account.
The defense contended that Glynn never forged any signatures on the checks. The defense claimed that Glynn sold Rolex watches as a side business, and the checks were in fact endorsed over to him to purchase watches.
Little was one of the prosecution’s key witnesses. She denied that she ever entered any fraudulent claims into the computer system. She also claimed that certain charges on a debit card for a bank account in her name—into which she had deposited fraudulent claims checks—were actually made by Glynn.
However, during cross-examination of other prosecution witnesses who worked at Western Express, the defense showed that Little testified falsely repeatedly about what she entered into the computer. As for the charges on the debit card, Little specifically claimed that Glynn had used the card to stay at a motel called the Thrifty Inn.
After she completed her testimony, the prosecution sent agents to corroborate the Thrifty Inn charges. However, the motel records showed that in fact Little had stayed there and made the charges. The prosecution disclosed the information, but by that time Little was off the witness stand.
Little claimed that she set up only one bank account to use to deposit fraudulent checks. She denied any involvement in any other accounts.
During cross-examination of another Western Express employee, the defense elicited testimony that in fact Little had opened a second bank account.
The defense argued to the jury that Little and others, including Rice, had falsely implicated Glynn to cover up their own fraudulent acts.
On December 14, 2015, the jury acquitted Glynn of conspiracy to commit mail fraud, mail fraud, and identity theft. The jury convicted him of five counts of bank fraud relating to the five checks totaling just over $48,000 that the prosecution contended were based on false claims.
In March 2016, prior to sentencing, Glynn’s trial defense lawyer, William J. Steed III, filed separate motions—one seeking an acquittal and the other seeking a new trial. The motions claimed that the trial had been “replete with false testimony by prosecution witnesses.” They also asserted that the prosecution knew the witnesses were testifying falsely, but refused to correct the false statements or have them stricken, characterizing them instead as “misstatements.”
The motions noted that the jury had acquitted Glynn of the conspiracy, mail fraud, and identity theft charges, which were based on the testimony of Little, Rice, and other Western Express employees. The motions said there was no testimony by any bank officials or others that indicated the depositing of the $48,000 in checks was fraudulent.
In August 2016, U.S. District Judge Kevin Sharpe denied the motion for acquittal, but ruled that he would hear arguments on the motion for a new trial. The judge said he was concerned “with the nature and quantum of proof that was introduced (or not introduced) relative to the counts of conviction.”
The judge noted that Glynn’s lawyer had “raised numerous allegations of inconsistent statements by the witnesses, and even perjurious testimony.” As an example, the judge cited Little’s false testimony about the use of the debit card at the Thrifty Inn. Little “testified that she had no knowledge of a charge…for the Thrifty Inn, implying that Glynn was the one who used the card. That was untrue and was only corrected after the Government took it upon itself to investigate the matter after Little had finished testifying.”
The judge also noted that after the trial, the prosecution notified the defense that, “through an oversight,” it failed to disclose that after Little was fired by Western Express, she went to work for another company. That company fired Little in late 2014 because she falsified time and payroll records.
“Additionally, this court is concerned that (Glynn) was convicted because he must have been the one to have signed the checks (or enlisted someone else to do it), yet in a case alleging bank fraud, no government agents were called to say what they may have done to track down the supposed claimants, or whether any effort was made to determine whether the handwriting might have been (Glynn’s),” the judge said.
In December 2016, following arguments on the motion for new trial, Judge Sharp said, “We are going to do this again. I’m going to grant their motion. I think this is one of those extraordinary circumstances. I think this one can be tried again without mess, without the potential prejudice. This is one that I think that justice requires that it be tried again.”
In August 2018, Glynn went to trial a second time. Unlike the first trial, Little, who by then had pled guilty to conspiracy and sentenced to probation and $11,000 in restitution, was not called to testify. Rice was not called to testify either, having pled guilty to conspiracy and was sentenced to probation and $25,500 in restitution.
The defense presented accident payroll deductions for the drivers involved in the accidents that generated the claims at issue in the case. The records showed that the drivers were charged their $500 deductible for being in a preventable accident.
In addition, unlike the first trial, Glynn testified in his own defense and presented receipts of Rolex watch sales as well as tax records documenting the sales. He testified that he bought and sold high-end watches such as Rolexes.
The defense also presented evidence rebutting the prosecution claim that the claimants did not exist. A manager of the bank where the checks were deposited testified that in order for checks of the amount in question—all more than $9,000—to be deposited, person whose name was written on the check had to be present at the bank and endorse the check over to Glynn in front of a bank employee before it could be deposited in Glynn’s account.
On August 17, 2018, the jury acquitted Glynn of all the charges.
– Maurice Possley
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