## Facts

- BellSouth operated an Enhanced 911 (E911) emergency-call system and maintained a computer-stored text file describing installation, operation, and maintenance procedures.
- BellSouth treated the E911 file as valuable proprietary information and restricted its disclosure outside the company and its subsidiaries.
- The government alleged that Robert J. Riggs gained unauthorized access to BellSouth’s computer system, copied the E911 text file, and placed it on a bulletin board system located in Illinois.
- The government further alleged that Riggs transferred the file to Craig Neidorf through an interstate computer network.
- Neidorf allegedly accessed the Illinois bulletin board from Missouri, received the file, edited it (including to conceal its stolen character), and published it in an underground computer newsletter he operated.
- Neidorf moved, pretrial, to dismiss Counts II–IV of the indictment charging wire fraud (18 U.S.C. § 1343) and interstate transportation of stolen property (18 U.S.C. § 2314), arguing the statutes did not apply to computer-stored data.

## Issues

1. Whether the indictment adequately alleged a “scheme to defraud” under 18 U.S.C. § 1343 where the alleged object was proprietary computer-stored information transmitted via interstate electronic communications.
2. Whether a computer text file containing proprietary information can constitute “goods, wares, or merchandise” that is “stolen” and transported in interstate commerce under 18 U.S.C. § 2314.
3. Whether enactment of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act implicitly displaced or limited prosecution under §§ 1343 and 2314 for the alleged computer-related conduct.

## Decision

- The court denied Neidorf’s motion to dismiss Counts II–IV.
- The court held the indictment sufficiently alleged wire fraud because it charged a scheme to deprive BellSouth of something of value—its proprietary E911 information—through unauthorized access and interstate electronic transmission.
- The court held the indictment sufficiently alleged a § 2314 offense because the E911 file, as computer-stored information embodied in a form capable of being viewed and used, could qualify as “goods, wares, or merchandise” and was alleged to have been transported interstate.
- The court held the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act did not foreclose use of the general wire fraud and stolen-property statutes where their elements were otherwise alleged.

## Legal Principles

- At the motion-to-dismiss stage, the court tests whether the indictment’s allegations, taken as true, state offenses under the charged statutes.
- Wire fraud under 18 U.S.C. § 1343 may be predicated on a scheme to wrongfully obtain or impair another’s property interests, including proprietary control over confidential business information, when interstate wires are used to execute the scheme.
- For 18 U.S.C. § 2314, proprietary information embodied in a transferable, usable medium (including a computer-stored file) can be treated as “goods, wares, or merchandise” for pleading purposes, even though the content is informational.
- The existence of a more specialized computer-crime statute (the CFAA) does not, without clear congressional intent, preempt or restrict prosecution under broader, preexisting federal fraud and stolen-property statutes.

## Conclusion

The court allowed wire fraud and interstate transportation of stolen property charges to proceed based on alleged unauthorized acquisition and interstate dissemination of a proprietary computer text file, and it rejected the argument that the CFAA displaced prosecution under §§ 1343 and 2314.


United States v. Riggs, 739 F. Supp. 414 (N.D. Ill. 1990)