## Facts

- Reynaldo de Jesus Ramos submitted a United States passport application containing false identifying information.
- The application used a false name and a false place and date of birth.
- The same passport application and the same false statements formed the factual basis for two federal charges: making a false statement within federal jurisdiction (18 U.S.C. § 1001) and making a false statement in a passport application with intent to secure a passport (18 U.S.C. § 1542).
- A federal jury convicted Ramos on both counts, and the district court imposed sentences under both statutes.
- Ramos appealed, challenging cumulative convictions and sentences for the same conduct and arguing the evidence was insufficient, particularly on materiality.

## Issues

1. Whether a defendant may be convicted and sentenced under both 18 U.S.C. § 1001 and 18 U.S.C. § 1542 based on the same false statements in a single passport application.
2. Whether the evidence was sufficient to prove the false statements were material to the passport-issuing agency’s decision.

## Decision

- The Eleventh Circuit affirmed the convictions and sentences.
- The court held that cumulative convictions and punishment under §§ 1001 and 1542 were permitted because each statute requires proof of an element the other does not.
- The court held the evidence was sufficient, concluding that false statements about identity on a passport application are indisputably material to the agency’s decision whether to issue a passport.
- The court further found the evidence supported the required intent to obtain a passport through the use of false statements.

## Legal Principles

- Under the Blockburger same-elements test, cumulative convictions and sentences for the same act are permissible when each statute requires proof of a fact the other does not.
- 18 U.S.C. § 1542 requires proof of passport-specific intent to induce or secure issuance of a passport, an element not required by 18 U.S.C. § 1001.
- Materiality for a false-statement offense is satisfied if the statement has a natural tendency to influence, or is capable of influencing, the decision of the agency addressed.
- False identity information (name, place of birth, date of birth) on a passport application is material because it bears directly on the government’s evaluation of eligibility for a passport.

## Conclusion

The Eleventh Circuit upheld Ramos’s dual convictions and sentences for a single passport application containing false identity information, holding that §§ 1001 and 1542 contain distinct elements permitting cumulative punishment and that the false identity statements were material and supported by sufficient evidence of intent.


United States v. Ramos, 725 F.2d 1322 (11th Cir. 1984)