United States of America v. Dimitar Petlechko

Memphis, Tennessee criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with mail fraud.



Proper venue in a criminal case is an "essential part[] of a free

and good government.” The Federal Farmer, in 2 The Complete Anti-Federalist 230 (Herbert J.

Storing ed. 1981). The government failed to meet its constitutional obligation to prove venue for

most of the charges it brought against Dimitar Petlechkov. Accordingly, we affirm in part,

reverse in part, and remand.



I.



FedEx provides shipping discounts to high-volume customers. In order to obtain such a

discount, Dimitar Petlechkov lied to FedEx and claimed he was a vendor for a high-volume

shipper. He used those discounted rates to offer shipping services to third parties, pocketing the

profit margin between what he charged the third parties and what he paid FedEx. He shipped

nearly 30,000 packages this way until FedEx finally caught him.



The government charged Petlechkov with 20 counts of mail fraud. See 18 U.S.C. § 1341.



A jury convicted him on each count. The district court sentenced Petlechkov to 37 months in

prison and ordered him to pay approximately $800,000 in restitution. He now appeals his

convictions, sentence, and restitution award.



* * *

We affirm Pellechio’s convictions on Counts 6, 13, and 19, and dismiss all remaining counts without prejudice. We need not address Petlechkov’s challenges to his sentence and the restitution award because the district court will need to both resentence Petlechkov and recalculate that award. See Hughey v. United States, 495 U.S. 411, 412–13, 419–20 (1990);Wood, 364 F.3d at 714.



We AFFIRM in part, REVERSE in part, and REMAND for proceedings consistent with

this opinion.