## Facts

- Francesco Columba-Colella, a 19-year-old British citizen, lived in Juarez, Mexico, and intended to remain there; he had no U.S. employment, property, or other meaningful ties.
- In Juarez, he met an individual known as “Keith,” who later offered to sell a Ford Fairmont and disclosed it had been stolen in El Paso, Texas.
- Columba-Colella agreed to help find a buyer in exchange for a share of the proceeds; his involvement began only after the vehicle was already in Mexico.
- Mexican police arrested Columba-Colella in Juarez as he approached the car with his wife.
- The United States charged him under 18 U.S.C. § 2313 for receiving a stolen vehicle in foreign commerce, based on conduct occurring entirely in Mexico.

## Issues

1. Whether a U.S. district court has criminal jurisdiction under 18 U.S.C. § 2313 over a non-U.S. citizen with no significant U.S. ties when the charged receiving/sale-related conduct occurred wholly in Mexico after the vehicle left the United States.

## Decision

- The Fifth Circuit reversed the district court’s judgment and vacated the conviction and sentence.
- The court held the United States lacked a recognized basis to apply § 2313 extraterritorially to this foreign national for conduct occurring entirely on foreign soil.
- Neither the protective principle nor the objective territorial principle supported jurisdiction on these facts, and there was no showing of participation in the U.S. theft or a cross-border scheme directed at the United States.

## Legal Principles

- U.S. criminal jurisdiction over a foreign national’s conduct abroad requires a recognized extraterritorial basis, such as:
  - Objective territorial jurisdiction, where foreign conduct is intended to produce and does produce substantial effects in the United States; or
  - Protective jurisdiction, where foreign conduct threatens U.S. security or governmental functions.
- A defendant’s foreign receipt or attempted sale of stolen property abroad, without participation in the domestic theft, conspiracy, or intent to cause effects in the United States, does not establish objective territorial jurisdiction.
- Private-property crimes abroad that do not implicate U.S. governmental functions generally do not satisfy the protective principle.
- Absent a clear indication of congressional intent, federal criminal statutes are generally construed not to apply extraterritorially to foreign nationals for wholly foreign conduct.

## Conclusion

The Fifth Circuit concluded that prosecuting a British citizen under § 2313 for receiving and attempting to sell a stolen U.S. vehicle entirely in Mexico exceeded recognized limits on extraterritorial criminal jurisdiction, so the conviction and sentence were vacated for lack of jurisdiction.


United States v. Columba-Colella, 604 F.2d 356 (5th Cir. 1979)