Defendant's Sentencing Memorandum — United States v. Imeesha Bradley (S.D. W. Va.)

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U.S. District Court, Southern District of West Virginia · No. 2:23-cr-00112 · Doc. 27 · 2024-01-05 · Docket on CourtListener

Full text

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IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 
FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF WEST VIRGINIA 
 
CHARLESTON DIVISION 
 
 
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 
 
v. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Criminal No. 2:23-00112 
 
IMEESHA BRADLEY 
 
 
DEFENDANT’S SENTENCING MEMORANDUM 
 
 
Comes now the defendant, Imeesha Bradley, by Assistant Federal Public 
Defender Emily L. Szopinski, and submits this memorandum outlining the various 
18 U.S.C. § 3553(a) factors for the Court’s consideration at her upcoming sentencing 
hearing.  For the reasons set forth below, Ms. Bradley requests a sentence of two 
years of probation.   
I. 
18 U.S.C. § 3553(a) Factors for Consideration 
With a criminal history category of I and an adjusted offense level of 6, the 
advisory guideline range set forth in the Presentence Investigation Report (“PSR”) 
recommends a term of imprisonment between zero and six months with Zone A 
sentencing options.  PSR ¶ 64.  Ms. Bradley respectfully requests the Court impose a 
within-Guidelines sentence of two years of probation and relies upon the following 18 
U.S.C. § 3553(a) factors in support of a non-custodial sentence. 
A. The nature and circumstances of the offense. 
The pandemic was a challenging time for Ms. Bradley.  Ms. Bradley was a 
single parent to two children who were in elementary school and ultimately became 
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pregnant with her youngest child.  In May 2021, Ms. Bradley submitted an 
application for a loan through the Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”), falsely 
stating that she owned a business that earned revenue in 2020.  At the time, Ms. 
Bradley had seen several people she followed across social media boasting about the 
“free” money that they had received from the Government.1 
Although Ms. Bradley was struggling financially, when she received the 
proceeds from the PPP loan, she did what is in her instincts to do: she helped out the 
people she loved.  She provided clothes and shoes for her children.  She spent the 
money helping family members who needed money for groceries or who were behind 
on rent because of the pandemic.  She provided financial help to her sister who was 
about to start college in South Carolina and who was recovering from a traumatizing 
incident in which she was kidnapped and trafficked.  Despite receiving $18,703 in a 
PPP loan, Ms. Bradley did not spend any of that money on herself.  Now, she will be 
working to pay back that $18,703, from which she derived no personal benefit.2     
 
 
  
 
1 See, e.g., Are PPP Loan Companies Legit? PPP Loans Are Being Aggressively (And I Suspect 
Deceptively) Marketed, Medium (Mar. 23, 2021), available at https://medium.com/web-design-
web-developer-magazine/are-ppploan-companies-legit-ppp-loans-are-being-aggressively-
and-i-suspect-deceptively-marketed-2fa99e7ec6fb (last visited January 5, 2024). 
 
2 Notably, nearly three-quarters of PPP funds “flowed to the top fifth of household income.” 
See David Autor et al., The $800 Billion Paycheck Protection Program: Where Did the Money 
Go and Why Did It Go There?, Journal of Economic Perspectives (Spring 2022), available at  
https://blueprintcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/jep.36.2.55.pdf (last visited January 5, 
2024). 
 
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B. The history and characteristics of the defendant. 
Despite the significant struggles Ms. Bradley has faced throughout her 
childhood and young adulthood, she has continued to work hard to support her three 
children.  Since she has been on bond in this case, Ms. Bradley has continued to 
demonstrate her willingness and ability to abide by the law, maintain steady 
employment, and comply with all conditions set forth by the probation office.  Unlike 
a sentence of imprisonment, a probationary sentence would allow Ms. Bradley to 
continue earning money towards her restitution obligation, which Ms. Bradley is 
eager to repay.   
1. Childhood 
Ms. Bradley undoubtedly had a challenging childhood.  She had very little 
contact with her father while she was growing up.  She was raised primarily by her 
grandmother, but she also lived with her mother throughout her childhood.  Growing 
up, Ms. Bradley spent a significant amount of time in church.  Her grandparents were 
heavily involved in the church, her mother became a pastor, and her stepfather was 
a deacon.  Ms. Bradley describes the church and her religion as having a significant 
influence in her life.   
When Ms. Bradley was only 14 years old, her mother kicked her out of the 
house, and Ms. Bradley was forced to bounce between group homes and foster care 
for the rest of her childhood.  When she turned 18, she gave birth to her oldest son 
and married her son’s father.     
 
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2. Ms. Bradley Today 
Ms. Bradley has been a single mother of her nine-year-old, eight-year-old and 
one-year old children for most of their lives.  Not only has she been the primary 
caregiver – and at times, the sole caregiver – to her children, she has also been the 
primary financial support for her children.3  Moreover, shortly after she gave birth to 
her youngest son, his father tragically passed away in a car accident.   
Despite caring for three children under ten, Ms. Bradley works multiple jobs 
to support her family.  She currently works as a nurse’s assistant at Charleston Area 
Medical Center (“CAMC”).  At that job, she sometimes works as many as 16 hours 
per day.  In addition, she cleans houses to supplement her income from her job at 
CAMC.  
Ms. Bradley acknowledges the grave mistake that she made in fraudulently 
obtaining a PPP loan.  In the two years since she made this mistake, however, she 
feels like she has gotten her life back on track.  She is working hard at her job to 
provide for her family, she has met and married a man who loves and supports her 
and her children, she has forged a deeper connection with her religion, and she 
describes herself as being in the best place mentally, emotionally, and spiritually that 
 
3 “Incarceration of a parent normally causes major negative economic, social, and 
psychological consequences to the child, and may have life-long [adverse] repercussions.” 
United States v. G.L., 305 F.R.D. 47, 50 (E.D.N.Y. 2015) (collecting literature). If Ms. Bradley 
is given a custodial sentence, her children are likely to “suffer developmental harm . . . in the 
form of behavioral and educational difficulties” as a result of her absence, Sarah Abramowicz, 
Beyond Family Law, 63 Case W. Res. L. Rev. 293, 321 (2012), along with a heightened risk 
of “diminished life chances and criminal involvement.” Bruce Western & Becky Pettit, 
Incarceration and Social Inequality, Daedalus, Summer 2010, at 16. 
   
 
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she has been in her life.  She has worked hard to process the mistake that she made 
in fraudulently applying for the PPP loan and the consequences that she will face for 
it, but she has not let it discourage her. 
3. Future Plans 
 
Ms. Bradley has always had big dreams.  She dreamed of going to school to 
become a nurse or a lawyer – dreams that are likely dashed by her receiving a felony 
conviction in this offense.  Despite the obstacles that she has faced, she still has big 
dreams: Ms. Bradley hopes to open a group home for children within the foster 
system.  Because of her own experience in group homes as a teenager, she wants to 
create a space within the foster system for kids to feel comfortable, loved, and 
supported.  While her financial progress toward opening a group home will 
undoubtedly be delayed due to her restitution obligation, she is not deterred from this 
goal.   
C. The need to avoid unwarranted sentencing disparities among 
defendants with similar records who have been found guilty 
of similar conduct. 
To date, the undersigned is aware of seven defendants in this district who have 
been sentenced for similar conduct.  Of those seven defendants, two had loss amounts 
that were double that of Ms. Bradley’s, and the other five had comparable loss 
amounts.  Each of those seven defendants was sentenced to a term of probation.  See 
United States v. Malik Breckenridge, Case No. 2:22-cr-00084 (S.D. W.Va. Nov. 17, 
2022) (Berger, J.) (sentencing defendant to a term of five years of probation with a 
total loss amount of $41,666); United States v. Alexis Ransom, Case No. 2:22-cr-00122 
(S.D. W.Va. Feb. 7, 2023) (Faber, J.) (sentencing defendant to a term of 5 years of 
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probation with a total loss amount of $42,250); United States v. Tiffany Bowlin, Case 
No. 2:22-cr-00205 (S.D. W.Va. May 4, 2023) (Copenhaver, J.) (sentencing defendant 
to a term of five years of probation with a total loss amount of $20,833); United States 
v. Calvin Butler, Case No. 2:22-cr-00161 (S.D. W. Va. May 18, 2023) (Goodwin, J.) 
(sentencing defendant to a term of five years of probation with a total loss amount of 
$18,540); United States v. Aalik Wilsher, Case No. 2:23-cr-00051 (S.D. W. Va. August 
8, 2023) (Goodwin, J.) (sentencing defendant to a term of three years of probation 
with a total loss amount of $20,459); United States v. Daniel Satow, Case No. 2:23-cr-
00056 (S.D. W. Va. August 10, 2023) (Johnston, C.J.) (sentencing defendant to a term 
of five years of probation with a total loss amount of $21,283); United States v. Tamir 
Pratt, Case No. 2:23-cr-00038 (S.D. W. Va. September 28, 2023) (Goodwin, J.) 
(sentencing defendant to a term of two years of probation with a loss amount of 
$20,832). 
D. The need for the sentence to reflect the seriousness of the 
offense, promote respect for the law, and provide just 
punishment. 
 
In outlining the duties of the United States Sentencing Commission, Congress 
made it clear that the Commission “shall insure that the guidelines reflect the general 
appropriateness of imposing a sentence other than imprisonment in cases in which 
the defendant is a first offender who has not been convicted of a crime of violence or 
an otherwise serious offense.”  28 U.S.C. § 994.   Ms. Bradley has no prior criminal 
history and is a first-time offender with zero criminal history points.  Accordingly, 
she has a very low risk of recidivism.  See U.S. SEN’G COMM’N, Recidivism of Federal 
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Offenders 
Released 
in 
2010 
(2021), 
https://www.ussc.gov/research/research-
reports/recidivism-federal-offenders-released-2010 (noting that recidivism data 
analyzed by the Commission suggest that offenders with zero criminal history points 
(“zero-point” offenders) have considerably lower recidivism rates than other 
offenders, including lower recidivism rates than the offenders in Criminal 
History Category I with one criminal history point); see also Report of U.S.S.C. (May 
2004) “Recidivism and the ‘First Offender’” (“The analysis [of empirical data on re-
offending] delineates recidivism risk for offenders with minimal prior criminal 
history and shows that the risk is lowest for offenders with the least experience in 
the criminal justice system. Offenders with zero criminal history points have lower 
recidivism rates than offenders with one or more criminal history points.”).   
A sentence of probation adequately reflects the seriousness of Ms. Bradley’s 
conduct and provides just punishment for her offense. As the Supreme Court has 
recognized, a sentence of probation is “a substantial restriction of freedom.” Gall v. 
United States, 552 U.S. 38, 48 (2007).  Ms. Bradley will be closely monitored by the 
Probation Office for the entirety of her probationary term, and she is very aware that 
if she were to violate any term of probation, the Court could re-sentence her to a term 
of imprisonment within, or above, her suggested guideline range. 
E. The kinds of sentences available and the sentencing 
guideline range. 
 
Ms. Bradley’s sentencing Guideline range is between 0 and 6 months of 
imprisonment.  The proposed sentence of probation falls within that Guideline range.  
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Above all, a sentence of probation will allow Ms. Bradley to continue working and pay 
her restitution obligations, which Ms. Bradley is eager to do.    
II. 
Conclusion 
For the forgoing reasons, Ms. Bradley submits that a probationary sentence of 
two years is sufficient, but not greater than necessary, to achieve the statutory 
sentencing purposes of 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a). 
III. 
Time Needed for Sentencing 
Ms. Bradley does not anticipate calling any witnesses to testify at the 
upcoming sentencing hearing and believes the hearing will last approximately thirty 
minutes. 
Date: January 5, 2024. 
 
 
 
 
Respectfully submitted, 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
IMEESHA BRADLEY 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
By Counsel 
 
WESLEY P. PAGE 
FEDERAL PUBLIC DEFENDER 
 
s/Emily L. Szopinski    ________________                
Emily L. Szopinski, WV Bar No. 14231 
Assistant Federal Public Defender 
Office of the Federal Public Defender 
300 Virginia Street, East, Room 3400 
Charleston, WV 25301 
Telephone: (304) 347-3350 
Facsimile: (304) 347-3356 
E-mail: Emily_Szopinski@fd.org  
 
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