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United States v. Teleguz

Court: Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
Date filed: 2007-07-24
Citations: 492 F.3d 80
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19 Citing Cases

          United States Court of Appeals
                     For the First Circuit


No. 06-1751

                    UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

                            Appellee,

                               v.

                          IVAN TELEGUZ,

                      Defendant, Appellant.


          APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

                FOR THE DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS

          [Hon. Michael A. Ponsor, U.S. District Judge]


                             Before

                       Boudin, Chief Judge,

                Lynch and Lipez, Circuit Judges.



     William S. Smith for appellant.
     Kevin O'Regan, Assistant United States Attorney, with whom
Michael J. Sullivan, United States Attorney, was on brief, for
appellee.



                          July 24, 2007
            LYNCH,    Circuit   Judge.      Ivan   Teleguez     of    Lancaster,

Pennsylvania, participated in an interstate business, the selling

of firearms.      He sold firearms to Carlos Ortiz, a cooperating

witness for the FBI in Springfield, Massachusetts.              All told, over

a fifteen-month period ending in October 2002, Teleguez and his co-

defendants sold to Ortiz twenty-five firearms, thirteen of which

had obliterated serial numbers.

            Teleguez was charged with federal conspiracies both to

deal   firearms      without    a   license,     see   18    U.S.C.    §§    371,

922(a)(1)(A), and to possess firearms with obliterated serial

numbers, see id. §§ 371, 922(k), as well as three separate counts

of possession of firearms with obliterated serial numbers, see id.

§ 922(k).      His co-defendants, Aleksei Safanov, Roman Zhirnov,

Andrey Buynovskiy, and Michael Quickel, all pled guilty, and

Quickel testified against Teleguez.            A jury convicted Teleguez on

all counts.     The district court sentenced Teleguez to fifty-one

months' imprisonment, to be followed by three years of supervised

release, and a special monetary assessment of $500.

            Teleguez    attacks     his   conviction,       arguing   that   the

district court erred (1) in denying his request for an entrapment

instruction and in precluding him from arguing entrapment at

closing, (2) in denying his motion to dismiss the possession counts

on interstate commerce grounds, (3) in denying his motions to

suppress his post-arrest statement, and (4) in denying a motion for


                                      -2-
judgment of acquittal as a matter of law as to the possession

counts.    We affirm.        We adhere to our prior rule that 18 U.S.C.

§ 922(k) is a constitutional exercise of Congress's Commerce Clause

powers, see United States v. Diaz-Martinez, 71 F.3d 946, 953 (1st

Cir. 1995), and hold that this result is not overruled by Jones v.

United States, 529 U.S. 848 (2000), or United States v. Morrison,

529 U.S. 598 (2000).

                                      I.     FACTS

A.           Ortiz's Firearms Purchases

             Ortiz   was     paid    by     the    FBI     to    assist    in   criminal

investigations.        In    this     case,       Ortiz    received       approximately

$80,000.

             In the early summer of 2001, FBI Special Agent Robert

Lewis asked Ortiz to "keep an eye out and an ear out for criminal

activity amongst Russian individuals in the Springfield area."

Ortiz's    inquiries    of    some     members       of    the    Russian       community

ultimately led to the criminal firearms transactions charges in

this case.    At various times, Ortiz represented that he had his own

customers for guns.

             The first firearms transaction occurred in July 2001.

Ortiz went to a local gun store, where he was approached by

Buynovskiy.      Buynovskiy         asked    Ortiz    if    he    was     interested   in

purchasing some rifles. Ortiz was interested; he consulted the FBI

and then gave Buynovskiy a $200 deposit.                  On July 2, Buynovskiy and


                                            -3-
Zhirnov met with Ortiz in a parking lot, where Ortiz purchased two

rifles and ammunition for $1,800.                    The source of at least one of

these weapons was Teleguez.                    More than a year earlier, in the

spring of 2000, Teleguez had purchased one of these rifles from an

acquaintance in Pennsylvania.

              The FBI investigation was interrupted by the events of

September 11, 2001, but then resumed in the spring of 2002.                              On

April 6, 2002, Ortiz purchased two firearms from Buynovskiy and

Safanov.      He purchased an additional firearm from Safanov on May

20, 2002.

              On    June    24,    2002,       Ortiz   and     Safanov,     at    Safanov's

suggestion,        drove    together          to   Pennsylvania    to   buy      guns   from

Teleguez.          The     two     went       to   Teleguez's     house     in     Ephrata,

Pennsylvania, where Ortiz purchased four firearms.                               The serial

number   on    one    of     the       four   firearms   had     been   obliterated      by

grinding.      The two returned to Massachusetts with the firearms.

              On July 16, 2002, Ortiz went to Safanov's apartment in

Springfield and purchased another five firearms. Serial numbers on

three of these firearms had been removed.

              On    August       25,    2002,      Teleguez,    who   had    traveled    to

Massachusetts, met Ortiz in a Springfield parking lot and sold

Ortiz another eight firearms, six of which had their serial numbers

obliterated.         Teleguez asked Ortiz to send him money for the

firearms by mail.          The defendant gave Ortiz an envelope with his


                                               -4-
name and Pennsylvania address written on it.           On August 27, 2002,

Ortiz   instead    sent   Teleguez    a    wire   transfer   for   $1,500   as

additional payment for the firearms purchased two days earlier.

           On August 30, 2002, Teleguez again met with Ortiz in

Springfield.      This time, defendant sold Ortiz two semi-automatic

pistols with obliterated serial numbers.              Ortiz paid Teleguez

$1,200.

           On October 3, 2002, at Teleguez's direction, Ortiz met

with Zhirnov in Springfield.         Zhirnov sold Ortiz a firearm whose

serial number had been removed.       The next day, Ortiz wired $850 to

Teleguez in payment for the firearm.

B.         Quickel's Firearms Purchases for Teleguez

           Quickel testified that in July and August 2002, he

purchased firearms for Teleguez, at defendant's request.             Quickel

used his own identification at legitimate firearms stores in

Pennsylvania.      Teleguez had told him that Teleguez could not

purchase the firearms in his own name.            Typically, Teleguez went

with Quickel to the firearms stores, told Quickel which firearms to

buy, and gave Quickel money to purchase the firearms.                Quickel

would carry the firearms out of the store himself, and then hand

them over to Teleguez.      The defendant paid Quickel $100 for each

rifle and $200 for each pistol purchased.

           The government introduced into evidence six transaction

records detailing Quickel's firearms purchases in Pennsylvania on


                                     -5-
behalf of Teleguez.    The records showed that Quickel purchased

fifteen firearms from July 8 through August 28, 2002.     All of the

firearms had serial numbers at the time of purchase.

          ATF Special Agent Patrick Burns testified about the guns

Quickel purchased for Teleguez which were ultimately sold to Ortiz.

Burns testified that Ortiz purchased nine firearms that were

similar to firearms Quickel purchased for Teleguez.      All nine of

the firearms had obliterated serial numbers when they were sold to

Ortiz.   As to four of the firearms, the similarity to Quickel's

purchases was limited to the manufacturer and type of firearm.    As

to the remaining five firearms, the government was able to raise

partial serial numbers which matched the serial numbers associated

with the firearms purchased by Quickel.

                           II.   ANALYSIS

A.        Denial of Request for Entrapment Instruction           and
          Preclusion from Arguing Entrapment at Closing

          Teleguez's primary argument is that he was entitled to an

entrapment instruction because the evidence shows that Ortiz was an

insistent buyer who was doggedly persistent, and this amounted to

improper inducement of Teleguez.       Teleguez also argues that the

district court erred in precluding him from arguing entrapment to

the jury at closing.   Teleguez preserved his objections at trial;

we review the denial of the entrapment instruction de novo, United

States v. Sánchez-Berríos, 424 F.3d 65, 76 (1st Cir. 2005), and

review the limitations placed on defendant's closing argument for

                                 -6-
abuse of discretion, United States v. Wood, 982 F.2d 1, 4 (1st Cir.

1992).

          The     entrapment   defense   is   not    a   doctrine   of

constitutional dimension or one expressly created by statute.

United States v. Russell, 411 U.S. 423, 432-33 (1973); see also

United States v.   Luisi, 482 F.3d 43, 52 (1st Cir. 2007).     Rather,

it is a judicially created doctrine which recognizes that "Congress

could not have intended that its statutes were to be enforced by

tempting innocent persons into violations."         Sherman v. United

States, 356 U.S. 369, 372 (1958).

          The question is whether a reasonable jury could view the

evidence as establishing that defendant was entrapped.     See United

States v. Rodriguez, 858 F.2d 809, 812 (1st Cir. 1988).        If so,

Teleguez was entitled to an entrapment instruction; if not, there

was no error in the district court's denial of defendant's request.

          The entrapment defense consists of two prongs.        Luisi,

482 F.3d at 52.     The first prong requires a showing of improper

government inducement.    United States v. Gamache, 156 F.3d 1, 9

(1st Cir. 1998). The second prong requires that the defendant have

had a lack of predisposition to commit the offense.      Id.   Because

entrapment is a judicially created doctrine, courts have been

careful not to contravene congressional intent to punish those who

commit the offense; that, in turn, requires that the doctrine take




                                 -7-
into   account     the    practical      problems     faced       by    federal    law

enforcement.     See Luisi, 482 F.3d at 52-53.

            Our case law stating that a defendant has a low entry-

level burden for obtaining an entrapment instruction, Gamache, 156

F.3d   at   9,   should    not    be   misunderstood        (as    defendant      here

misunderstands).     In assessing whether the entry-level burden for

an   instruction    has    been   met,    we   look    at    the       evidence   most

charitably to the defendant and determine whether it is sufficient

for a reasonable jury to conclude that there was entrapment.                      See

Rodriguez, 858 F.2d at 813.

            In this case, no reasonable jury could conclude that

there was any improper government inducement. Defendant's argument

is based on an erroneous understanding of (1) what it takes to show

improper inducement, (2) the personal nature of the entrapment

defense, and (3) the scope of the record to be considered.

            Acceptance of Teleguez's arguments would so water down

the concept of improper inducement as to delete the requirement of

impropriety from the equation. Admittedly, sometimes a judgment on

what is sufficient to make a plausible claim of improper inducement

can be a close call.        Nonetheless, merely giving a defendant an

opportunity to commit a crime when the government puts forth an

enthusiastic and persistent buyer of illicit goods cannot be

improper inducement.




                                       -8-
             Decisions     which    discuss          the     improper      inducement

requirement often use the phrase that there must be "opportunity

plus," and then turn to the nature of the "plus."                          See, e.g.,

United States v. Capelton, 350 F.3d 231, 243 (1st Cir. 2003);

United States v. Vega, 102 F.3d 1301, 1305 (1st Cir. 1996).

Plucking phrases from the case law, Teleguez argues that the "plus"

factor     is   necessarily      satisfied      by     evidence       of   government

manipulation or by forceful solicitation and dogged insistence. He

cites United States v. Gendron, 18 F.3d 955 (1st Cir. 1994), for

support.        Gendron,   however,      is    clear       that   sting    operations

ordinarily do not involve improper inducement. See id. at 961; see

also Gamache, 156 F.3d at 9 ("A 'sting' operation is not improper

inducement if it merely provides an opportunity to commit a crime

. . . .").      Indeed, sting operations by their nature often involve

government manipulation, solicitation, and, at times, deceit. See,

e.g., Sánchez-Berríos, 424 F.3d at 71-72, 76-77.

             Teleguez's    argument      that    the       evidence    supported   an

entrapment instruction rests on evidence to the following effect.

Teleguez argues that it was the government agent1 Ortiz who first

approached      Teleguez   and     the    co-defendants           about    purchasing

firearms.       Teleguez also maintains that Ortiz was not simply a

buyer; he pretended to befriend several of the defendants.                      Ortiz


     1
          For entrapment purposes, an individual hired by the
government as a cooperating witness qualifies as a "government
agent." Luisi, 482 F.3d at 53.

                                         -9-
pressed hard to get a number of weapons from co-defendants, and to

get them quickly.     Further, defendant says Ortiz made up stories

about why he needed the weapons and why he needed them so quickly.

These facts, however, whether standing alone or collectively, are

insufficient to show improper inducement.

            Most of the evidence on which Teleguez relies to show

undue pressure was directed toward co-defendants, and was not

designed to induce the co-defendants to put pressure on Teleguez.

Entrapment is a personal defense; it is not additive to cover co-

defendants not targeted by the government agent.     See Luisi, 482

F.3d at 54-55; United States v. Bradley, 820 F.2d 3, 8 (1st Cir.

1987).     The justification for the entrapment doctrine simply does

not extend to pressure placed on co-defendants intended to affect

only those co-defendants' actions.2


       2
            This is not a case like Luisi where there was evidence
that

            (1) a government agent specifically targeted
            the defendant in order to induce him to commit
            illegal conduct; (2) the agent acted through
            the middleman after other government attempts
            at inducing the defendant had failed; (3) the
            government agent requested, encouraged, or
            instructed the middleman to employ a specified
            inducement, which could be found improper,
            against the targeted defendant; (4) the
            agent's actions led the middleman to do what
            the government sought, even if the government
            did not use improper means to influence the
            middleman; and (5) as a result of the
            middleman's inducement, the targeted defendant
            in fact engaged in the illegal conduct.


                                 -10-
            In the larger context of this case, the basis for an

entrapment instruction is even weaker.           Before Ortiz and Teleguez

met for the first time on June 24, 2002 at Teleguez's home, Ortiz

had already bought two rifles from co-defendants Buynovskiy and

Zhernov, one of which had been previously owned by defendant.

            In total, Ortiz completed eight firearms transactions

with Teleguez and his co-defendants.             Over the course of these

transactions, Ortiz and Teleguez had three face-to-face meetings.

As the district court noted, when Ortiz visited defendant's house

in Pennsylvania, Teleguez stated almost immediately that he was

ready to do business.      Within approximately one hour, Teleguez had

sold Ortiz four firearms.       Two months later, on August 25, 2002,

the defendant traveled to Massachusetts and personally sold Ortiz

eight firearms.       Five days later, he sold Ortiz another two

firearms, also in Massachusetts.              There is no showing of any

resistance on Teleguez's part to selling weapons, much less any

resistance which was overcome by improper government pressure.

Defendant was an eager vendor of deadly weapons.

            Having considered the broader record, we agree that

Teleguez did not make the requisite entry-level showing for an

entrapment instruction. Cf. United States v. Joost, 92 F.3d 7, 12-

14   (1st   Cir.   1996)   (holding    that    defendant   was   entitled   to

entrapment instruction where jury could have found, inter alia,


Luisi, 482 F.3d at 55.

                                      -11-
that defendant resisted agents' requests, defendant employed a

general     strategy   of   deflecting   agents'   requests,   agents

deliberately created a financial dependency, and agents threatened

defendant's continued income).    The district court properly denied

defendant's request for an instruction on entrapment.

            As to the district court's decision to preclude Teleguez

from arguing entrapment at closing, we find no abuse of discretion.

See Wood, 982 F.2d at 4.      The trial court "has broad discretion

over the scope of summations."    United States v. Grabiec, 96 F.3d

549, 552 (1st Cir. 1996).      After the close of evidence, having

already correctly determined that Teleguez was not entitled to an

entrapment instruction, the district court informed defense counsel

that he would be precluded from arguing entrapment in his closing

argument.     Defense counsel initially believed that the district

court had prohibited him from arguing neutral facts that had been

developed in relation to the desired entrapment defense. The court

clarified, however, that it was only prohibiting defense counsel

from arguing a theory of entrapment; there was no limitation on

arguing facts.    The district court's decision was well within its

discretion.

B.          Denial of Motion To Dismiss, on Interstate Commerce
            Grounds, Charges of Possession of a Firearm with an
            Obliterated Serial Number

            The district court denied Teleguez's pre-trial motion to

dismiss the charges brought against him under 18 U.S.C. § 922(k).


                                 -12-
Teleguez argues that dismissal of the charges under 18 U.S.C.

§   922(k)    was    required    both     because   §   922(k)   involves    an

impermissible exercise of Congress's Commerce Clause powers, and

because the evidence was insufficient to support a conviction under

the statute.        Our review of legal questions is de novo, and we

review the entire record on Teleguez's sufficiency claim.                   See

United States v. García-Carrasquillo, 483 F.3d 124, 129 (1st Cir.

2007); United States v. Rodriguez, 457 F.3d 109, 113 (1st Cir.

2006).

             Section 922(k) prohibits possession of firearms with

obliterated    or    altered    serial    numbers.3     The   statutory     text

requires proof that the firearm "has, at any time, been shipped or

transported in interstate or foreign commerce."4


     3
             18 U.S.C. § 922(k) provides:

             It shall be unlawful for any person knowingly
             to transport, ship, or receive, in interstate
             or foreign commerce, any firearm which has had
             the importer's or manufacturer's serial number
             removed, obliterated, or altered or to possess
             or receive any firearm which has had the
             importer's or manufacturer's serial number
             removed, obliterated, or altered and has, at
             any time, been shipped or transported in
             interstate or foreign commerce.
     4
          Teleguez cites a case from the Ninth Circuit, United
States v. Stewart, 348 F.3d 1132 (9th Cir. 2003), vacated, 545 U.S.
1112 (2005), to support his argument that § 922(k) falls outside
Congress's Commerce Clause powers and/or cannot constitutionally be
applied to him. Stewart, however, considered 18 U.S.C. § 922(o),
which -- unlike § 922(k) -- does not contain an express interstate
commerce element. See 18 U.S.C. § 922(o); Stewart, 348 F.3d at
1134. Further, on remand from the Supreme Court, the Ninth Circuit

                                        -13-
           We have already held that § 922(k) is a constitutional

exercise of Congress's Commerce Clause powers.         See Diaz-Martinez,

71 F.3d at 953.      Teleguez argues, however, that in light of the

Supreme Court's more recent decisions in Jones, 529 U.S. 848, and

Morrison, 529 U.S. 598, we should revisit Diaz-Martinez and hold

that evidence that a firearm was manufactured in one state and

possessed by defendant in another state is insufficient to justify

a conviction under § 922(k).           Teleguez mixes the question of

Congress's   power   to   regulate    with   the   different   question   of

sufficiency of the evidence.

           Our opinion in Diaz-Martinez, which was decided after

United States v. Lopez, 514 U.S. 549 (1995),5 remains good law.

Other circuits, post-Lopez, have upheld § 922(k) against similar

attacks.   See United States v. Baer, 235 F.3d 561, 563 (10th Cir.

2000); United States v. Mack, 164 F.3d 467, 473 (9th Cir. 1999).

Indeed, our sister circuits have held that virtually identical



reconsidered § 922(o) in light of Gonzales v. Raich, 545 U.S. 1
(2005), and held that the statute could be constitutionally applied
to Stewart's possession of homemade machine guns. United States v.
Stewart, 451 F.3d 1071, 1078 (9th Cir. 2006). Teleguez has failed
to note that the Ninth Circuit has, in fact, upheld § 922(k) on
interstate commerce grounds. United States v. Mack, 164 F.3d 467,
473 (9th Cir. 1999).
     5
          In Lopez, the Supreme Court held that the Gun-Free School
Zones Act of 1990, 18 U.S.C. § 922(q)(1)(A), which contained no
interstate commerce element, was beyond Congress's Commerce Clause
powers because gun possession in a local school zone did not
qualify as economic activity that substantially affected interstate
commerce. 514 U.S. at 561-62, 567-68.

                                     -14-
interstate commerce elements in other federal criminal statutes

survive challenges under Jones and Morrison.                 See, e.g., United

States v. Thompson, 359 F.3d 470, 480 (7th Cir.) (upholding 18

U.S.C. § 922(g)(1)), cert. denied, 543 U.S. 844 (2004); United

States v. Rousseau, 257 F.3d 925, 932-33 (9th Cir.) (reaffirming

constitutionality of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(8) and § 922(g)(1)), cert.

denied, 534 U.S. 1013 (2001); United States v. Dorris, 236 F.3d

582, 584-86 (10th Cir. 2000) (upholding 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1)),

cert. denied, 532 U.S. 986 (2001); United States v. Napier, 233

F.3d 394, 400-02 (6th Cir. 2000) (upholding 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(8)).

                The reasoning for upholding § 922(k) in the aftermath of

Jones and Morrison is the same as that provided in the cases cited

above.    Congress has not exceeded the scope of its Commerce Clause

powers in enacting § 922(k) because the statute prohibits the

possession of firearms with obliterated serial numbers only if such

firearms have been "shipped or transported in interstate or foreign

commerce."           So restricted by its own text, § 922(k) does not

present     a    constitutional     problem      --   Congress   may   permissibly

regulate the channels and instrumentalities of interstate commerce,

as   well       as    activities   that    substantially     affect     interstate

commerce. See Lopez, 514 U.S. at 558-59; United States v. Morales-

De Jesús, 372 F.3d 6, 9 (1st Cir. 2004).

                From the constitutional analysis, it follows that the

evidence was sufficient.           The prosecution offered expert testimony


                                          -15-
that twenty-two of the twenty-five firearms at issue necessarily

had crossed state or foreign lines because they were originally

manufactured in other states or countries. The interstate commerce

argument is especially misplaced here, where Teleguez traveled from

his home in Pennsylvania, across a number of state lines, to sell

firearms to Ortiz in Massachusetts.

C.        Denial of Motions To Suppress Post-Arrest Statement

          After defendant had signed a voluntary and knowing waiver

of his Miranda rights, ATF agent Bernie Tuerler asked Teleguez how

many illegal guns he had and how many illegal guns he had sold.

Defendant did not respond. Teleguez was then asked who removed the

serial numbers and reblued6 the guns which he sold.       Teleguez

answered, "Well, Alex is the one who reblued the guns and removed

the serial numbers."   Only then did defendant say, "I think I'm

going to get a lawyer."7

          The district court denied defendant's pre-trial motion to

suppress the statement that Alex was the one who reblued the guns

and removed the serial numbers.8      The court similarly denied



     6
          "Rebluing" is the process of refinishing the surface of
a firearm after the chemical finish of the firearm has been worn
off.
     7
          The trial judge instructed the jury not to draw any
inference from Teleguez's invocation of his right to counsel.
     8
          Teleguez asserts that the challenged statement was the
government's only evidence that he had knowledge that the serial
numbers on firearms had been altered or removed. This is not so.

                               -16-
defendant's pre-admission and post-admission suppression motions at

trial.     The court noted that the agent's questions were put to

Teleguez    in   "fairly   quick    succession"     and   concluded    that

defendant's mere hesitation or non-response to previous questions

did not justify suppression.       Our appellate review of the denials

of defendant's motions is bifurcated.      We review findings of fact

for clear error; we review conclusions of law de novo.                United

States v. Coplin, 463 F.3d 96, 100 (1st Cir. 2006).

            Teleguez argues that there was a Miranda violation and

relies on the facts that (1) just before he made the challenged

statement he had not answered Tuerler's questions about how many

illegal guns he had and how many illegal guns he had sold, and (2)

just after the statement he said, "I think I'm going to get a

lawyer."    See Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 444-45 (1966).

Teleguez argues that his silence in response to questions about the

number of illegal guns was "tantamount" to the invocation of his

right to remain silent, and that his subsequent invocation of his

right to an attorney confirms that his earlier state of mind in not

answering questions was to exercise his Miranda rights, his prior

written waiver notwithstanding.

            Miranda addresses two different rights: the right to

remain silent and the right to counsel.           See id. at 444; Bui v.

DiPaolo, 170 F.3d 232, 239 (1st Cir. 1999).          The record is clear

that Teleguez did not request counsel until after he made the


                                   -17-
statement, so his right to counsel is not at issue.             That leaves

the question of whether he had invoked his right to remain silent.

He had not.

            A defendant's choice, after signing a Miranda waiver, to

selectively answer questions, is not in itself an unequivocal

assertion of his right to remain silent.               There is no other

evidence to support the argument that Teleguez asserted his right

to remain silent.       See Bui, 170 F.3d at 239; cf. Davis v. United

States, 512 U.S. 452, 461-62 (1994) ("If the suspect's statement is

not an unambiguous or unequivocal request for counsel, the officers

have no obligation to stop questioning him.").

            The   district   court    correctly   held   that    Teleguez's

statement was admissible.

D.          Denial of Motion for Judgment of Acquittal

            At the close of the evidence, the district court denied

Teleguez's motion for a judgment of acquittal as to the three

counts of possession of firearms with obliterated serial numbers.

The court rejected the argument that defendant did not know at the

time of possession that serial numbers had been removed from many

of the guns he sold to Ortiz.         We review the matter de novo, see

United States v. O'Shea, 426 F.3d 475, 479 (1st Cir. 2005), and

affirm.

            The statute, 18 U.S.C. § 922(k), requires the defendant

to   have   knowingly   possessed    firearms   with   obliterated   serial


                                     -18-
numbers.    See United States v. Hooker, 997 F.2d 67, 74 (5th Cir.

1993).   Defendant argues that his statement that "Alex is the one

who reblued the guns and removed the serial numbers" is not a

statement that Teleguez had this knowledge at the time he possessed

the firearms.      That is true, but it is hardly dispositive.

            The government's case did not rest merely on Teleguez's

statement, so we do not face the abstract question of whether

inferences from defendant's statement would suffice to meet the

government's    burden   of   proof.   On   August   25,   2002,   Teleguez

personally sold six firearms with obliterated serial numbers to

Ortiz in Massachusetts.        The same was true of the two firearms

defendant sold to Ortiz on August 30, 2002.      Further, on October 3,

2002, Teleguez arranged for Zhernov to deliver to Ortiz another

firearm with an obliterated serial number, for which Teleguez

received $850.     It is easy to infer that Teleguez was familiar with

the guns he was selling and knew quite well that the serial numbers

had been obliterated.         This conclusion that Teleguez had the

requisite knowledge is further supported by Quickel's testimony

that he had purchased firearms with intact serial numbers for

Teleguez,    and    by   Agent   Burns's    testimony      explaining   the

similarities between Quickel's purchases for Teleguez and numerous

firearms with obliterated serial numbers that defendant sold to

Ortiz.   The evidence was sufficient.

            The conviction is affirmed.


                                   -19-