## Facts

- Cecil Turner served as Director of the Division of Physical Services for the Illinois Secretary of State’s office (1999–2005) and supervised a janitorial workforce, including three night janitors.
- Three state-employed janitors worked far fewer than the required 40 hours per week, falsified attendance logs, and received full salaries.
- The government’s theory was that Turner provided supervisory cover for the scheme, including by promoting the lead night janitor and discouraging others from monitoring or questioning the crew’s attendance and performance.
- Complaints about unsanitary building conditions led to investigations by internal offices, the inspector general, and the FBI.
- The lead janitor cooperated with the FBI and recorded conversations with Turner that suggested Turner knew of and condoned the time-and-pay scheme.
- FBI agents interviewed Turner twice; Turner denied deliberately ignoring the scheme and denied reprimanding supervisors who checked on the janitors, asserting he had only recently learned of it.
- Two janitors were paid by direct deposit; the government treated the electronic salary transfers for unworked hours as the wire transmissions supporting the wire-fraud counts.

## Issues

1. Whether Turner’s denials to FBI agents were “material” under 18 U.S.C. § 1001 when agents already possessed recordings showing the denials were false.
2. Whether the evidence was sufficient to support wire-fraud convictions under 18 U.S.C. § 1343 when the case was submitted on both money-or-property and honest-services theories.
3. Whether direct-deposit salary payments constituted a sufficient “use of the wires” in furtherance of the scheme under § 1343.

## Decision

- The Seventh Circuit affirmed Turner’s convictions on two counts under 18 U.S.C. § 1001 and four counts under 18 U.S.C. § 1343.
- The court held Turner’s false statements were material under an objective standard even if the agents were not actually misled.
- The court held the wire-fraud convictions were supported by sufficient evidence on the traditional money-or-property theory, making it unnecessary for the convictions to depend on the honest-services theory.
- The court held the direct-deposit payments were a sufficient use of the wires because the electronic transfers delivered the fraud’s proceeds and were part of executing the scheme.

## Legal Principles

- Materiality under 18 U.S.C. § 1001 is objective: a statement is material if it has the capacity or potential to influence a reasonable decisionmaker under normal circumstances, even if the investigators already know it is false.
- A wire-fraud conviction may be sustained where the evidence is sufficient on a traditional money-or-property theory, even if the case was also presented on an alternative honest-services theory.
- For 18 U.S.C. § 1343, electronic salary payments via direct deposit can satisfy the “use of the wires” requirement when the transfers are integral to obtaining the fraudulent proceeds.

## Conclusion

The court upheld Turner’s convictions because his denials could influence a reasonable investigation despite agents’ prior knowledge, the record supported a straightforward scheme to obtain state wages for hours not worked, and direct-deposit wage payments constituted wire transmissions used to execute that scheme.


United States v. Turner, 551 F.3d 657 (7th Cir. 2008)