United States Court of Appeals FOR THE EIGHTH CIRCUIT ___________

No. 99-2581 ___________

United States of America, * * Appellee, * * Appeal from the United States v. * District Court for the * District of South Dakota. James P. Lloyd, * * [UNPUBLISHED] Appellant. * ___________

Submitted: February 3, 2000 Filed: February 7, 2000 ___________

Before LOKEN, FAGG, and HANSEN, Circuit Judges. ___________

PER CURIAM.

James P. Lloyd appeals his conviction for presenting a “false, fictitious, or fraudulent” claim to the United States in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 287. After a flood damaged Lloyd’s residence in Watertown, South Dakota, two friends let him store his personal possessions in their rental trailers. When the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which administers federal disaster relief, rejected Lloyd’s unsupported claim for reimbursement of trailer rental expenses, Lloyd obtained rental bills from his friends, marked the bills “paid,” submitted them to FEMA to support his claim for reimbursement, and received $2,957 in disaster assistance. The government later investigated and charged him with violating § 287. Following a bench trial, the district court1 found that Lloyd violated the statute because he falsely marked the trailer rental bills paid, and because his friends had no intention of requiring him to pay those bills.

On appeal, Lloyd contends he is entitled to a judgment of acquittal because he was charged with violating the wrong statute. Falsely marking the bills paid may have been the making of a false statement in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1001, he argues, but it was not submitting a false claim in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 287. Like the district court, we disagree. Lloyd submitted to FEMA a false or fraudulent claim for reimbursement of disaster-related expenses. Getting his friends to bill him for the phantom expenses, and then marking the bills paid, no doubt created false statements, but it also supplied the material falsehoods that prompted FEMA to honor his bogus claim. Thus, he violated § 287, and the judgment of the district court must be affirmed.

A true copy.

Attest:

CLERK, U. S. COURT OF APPEALS, EIGHTH CIRCUIT.

1 The HONORABLE CHARLES B. KORNMANN, United States District Judge for the District of South Dakota. -2-