United States District Court, D. Minnesota
Lisa
D. Kirkpatrick, Assistant United States Attorney,
Minneapolis, MN, on behalf of Plaintiff.
Jeffrey Charles Rodd, pro se.
MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER
ANN D.
MONTGOMERY U.S. DISTRICT JUDGE
I.
INTRODUCTION
This
matter is before the undersigned United States District Judge
for a ruling on Defendant Jeffrey Charles Rodd's
(“Rodd”) Motion for a Reduction of Sentence
pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(1)(A) for Extraordinary
and Compelling Reasons [Docket No. 78] (the
“Motion”). Rodd requests an immediate release,
sentence reduction, or home confinement. For the reasons set
forth below Rodd's Motion is denied.
II.
BACKGROUND
On
January 15, 2014, a jury found Rodd guilty of Counts 1-4,
wire fraud, and Count 5, mail fraud. Jury Verdict [Docket No.
45]. Rodd solicited money from potential investors through
promises that he would use the invested funds to purchase and
sell “structured settlement annuities.” Rodd
never made any purchases of the annuities. Instead, he used
the money for production of his “Safe Money”
radio show expenses or to make Ponzi-type payments to earlier
victim-investors. At the sentencing hearing, the Court noted
Rodd expressed “some sort of level of remorse, but it
seems more like a sort of remorse that you got caught.”
Sentencing Hr'g Tr. [Docket No. 72] at 31. Rodd was
reminded that although this case has had “an effect on
your health and life, . . . one cannot read the letters and
the submissions of the various victims in this case without
the realization that it's altered very significantly lots
of lives.” Id. at 30. The trial evidence
showed that Rodd “lied over and over and over
again.” Id. at 30-31. Taking into
consideration the 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a) factors, Rodd was
sentenced to 87 months on Counts 1-5, to be served
concurrently, and $1.2 million in restitution. Am. Sentencing
Judgment [Docket No. 62]. The Government requested an upward
departure from the Guideline Sentencing range, but the Court
concluded that 87 months, the top of the applicable Guideline
range, was sufficient to reflect the seriousness of the
offense in this case. Sentencing Hr'g Tr. at 32.
Because
Rodd had documented health issues, the Court recommended Rodd
be evaluated for incarceration at a Federal Medical Center
(“FMC”). Mot. at 2; Sentencing Hr'g Tr. at
37. In October 2014, Rodd was first incarcerated at a Federal
Prison Camp in Duluth, Minnesota. Mot. at 2. In January 2015,
Rodd was transferred to the FMC in Rochester, Minnesota
(“FMC Rochester”). Id. at 2-3. He was
later transferred in 2017 to the FMC in Lexington, Kentucky
(“FMC Lexington”). Id. Rodd currently
has a release date of January 10, 2021.
On
February 1, 2019, Rodd submitted a request to the warden of
FMC Lexington to be considered for compassionate relief
pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3582. Rodd did not receive an
administrative response within 30 days. On June 10, 2019,
Rodd filed his Motion for a compassionate release, relying on
the recently-enacted First Step Act (“FSA”).
III.
DISCUSSION
A.
Legal Landscape
The
First Step Act of 2018 amended 18 U.S.C. §
3582(c)(1)(A). Pub. L. No. 115-391, 132 Stat. 5194, §
603(b). The law under 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c) prohibits
modification of a term of imprisonment once it has been
imposed, except in limited circumstances. One of those
circumstances is “Compassionate Release.” The
Court:
may reduce the term of imprisonment (and may impose a term of
probation or supervised release with or without conditions
that does not exceed the unserved portion of the original
term of imprisonment), after considering the factors set
forth in section 3553(a) to the extent that they are
applicable, if it finds that-
(i) extraordinary and compelling reasons warrant such a
reduction; . . . and that such a reduction is consistent with
applicable policy statements issued ...