Official U.S. Court Reporter: Ms. Tonia M. Harris, Rpr — United States v. Stewart, No. 1:21-cr-00005-RDA (E.D. Va.)
- Date
- 2021-02-03
Source document: Official U.S. Court Reporter: Ms. Tonia M. Harris, Rpr; document type: Hearing transcript (plea hearing of 2021-02-03), 29 pages.
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EASTERN DISTRICT OF VIRGINIA
Tonia M. Harris OCR-USDC/EDVA 703-646-1438
1
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
EASTERN DISTRICT OF VIRGINIA
ALEXANDRIA DIVISION
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:
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, : Criminal Action No.
:
versus : 1:21-cr-00005
:
ROBERT S. STEWART, JR.,
: February 3, 2021
:
Defendant. :
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The above-entitled Plea hearing was heard before the
Honorable Rossie D. Alston, Jr., United States District Judge.
A P P E A R A N C E S
FOR THE GOVERNMENT:
WILLIAM E. FITZPATRICK, AUSA
United States Attorney's Office
2100 Jamieson Ave
Alexandria, VA 22314
FOR THE DEFENDANT:
ROBERT L. JENKINS, Jr., ESQ.
Bynum & Jenkins PLLC
1010 Cameron Street
Alexandria, VA 22314
OFFICIAL U.S. COURT REPORTER:
MS. TONIA M. HARRIS, RPR
United States District Court
401 Courthouse Square
Fifth Floor
Alexandria, VA 22314
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EASTERN DISTRICT OF VIRGINIA
United States of America v. Stewart
Tonia M. Harris OCR-USDC/EDVA 703-646-1438
2
P R O C E E D I N G S
(Court proceedings commenced at 12:33 p.m.)
THE DEPUTY CLERK: Criminal No. 2021-5. United
States of America versus Robert Stewart, Jr.
MR. FITZPATRICK: Good afternoon, Your Honor.
William Fitzpatrick on behalf of the United States.
THE COURT: Good afternoon, sir. Mr. Jenkins, good
afternoon, sir.
MR. JENKINS: Good afternoon, again, Your Honor.
Robert Jenkins on behalf of the defendant. May it please the
court.
THE COURT: Thank you, sir. Let the record reflect,
Mr. Stewart is also present.
Mr. Stewart, it's my understanding from your counsel
that it is your desire to enter a plea of guilty here this
afternoon.
THE DEFENDANT: Yes, Your Honor.
THE COURT: The clerk is going to swear you in and
then I'm going to ask you some questions, sir.
THE DEFENDANT: Yes, Your Honor.
(Defendant sworn.)
THE COURT: Sir, before accepting your plea of
guilty, there are certain questions that I need to ask you.
If you do not understand these questions, please feel free to
ask either the Court or your counsel.
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EASTERN DISTRICT OF VIRGINIA
United States of America v. Stewart
Tonia M. Harris OCR-USDC/EDVA 703-646-1438
3
What is your full name, sir?
THE DEFENDANT: Robert Stevens Stewart, Jr.
THE COURT: Sir, if you're comfortable, you can
remove your mask if you're comfortable.
What is your date of birth?
THE DEFENDANT: 09/28/85.
THE COURT: How old are you, sir?
THE DEFENDANT: 35 years of age.
THE COURT: What is the highest level of education
you have completed?
THE DEFENDANT: Masters degree.
THE COURT: Do you have any problems reading,
writing, or understanding the English language?
THE DEFENDANT: No, Your Honor.
THE COURT: Are you under the influence of any
narcotics or alcohol this afternoon?
THE DEFENDANT: No, Your Honor.
THE COURT: Are you entirely satisfied with the
services of your lawyer?
THE DEFENDANT: Yes, Your Honor.
THE COURT: Have you received a copy of the charging
documents before being called upon to plea?
THE DEFENDANT: Yes, Your Honor.
THE COURT: Have you discussed the charge and the
elements with your lawyer?
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EASTERN DISTRICT OF VIRGINIA
United States of America v. Stewart
Tonia M. Harris OCR-USDC/EDVA 703-646-1438
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THE DEFENDANT: Yes, Your Honor.
THE COURT: Do you fully understand the charges
against you?
THE DEFENDANT: Yes, Your Honor.
THE COURT: Are you the person named in the charging
documents?
THE DEFENDANT: Yes, Your Honor.
THE COURT: Have you had enough time to discuss with
your lawyer whether you should enter a plea of guilty or not
guilty in these cases?
THE DEFENDANT: Yes, Your Honor.
THE COURT: After these discussions, did you decide
for yourself to enter this plea of guilty?
THE DEFENDANT: Yes, Your Honor.
THE COURT: Are you aware of your right to formally
go before a grand jury before being called upon to plea?
THE DEFENDANT: Yes, Your Honor.
THE COURT: It's my understanding, sir, that you
want to waive presentation to the grand jury and waive
indictment by the grand jury.
THE DEFENDANT: That is correct, Your Honor.
THE COURT: I have in my hand, sir, a form entitled
"Waiver of Indictment," it purports to have your signature
thereon, the signature of your attorney, and the signature of
the representative of the United States government.
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United States of America v. Stewart
Tonia M. Harris OCR-USDC/EDVA 703-646-1438
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Did you in fact sign this form?
THE DEFENDANT: Yes, Your Honor.
THE COURT: Did you read it before you signed it?
THE DEFENDANT: Yes, Your Honor.
THE COURT: And if you had any questions regarding
the form, did Mr. Jenkins answer those questions?
THE DEFENDANT: He did, Your Honor.
THE COURT: Did you discuss with your lawyer whether
you should enter a plea of guilty or not guilty?
THE DEFENDANT: Yes, Your Honor.
THE COURT: After these discussions, did you decide
for yourself that you wanted to enter this plea of guilty?
THE DEFENDANT: Yes, Your Honor.
THE COURT: Are you entering this plea of guilty
freely and voluntarily?
THE DEFENDANT: Yes, Your Honor.
THE COURT: Are you entering this plea of guilty
because you are in fact guilty of the charges?
THE DEFENDANT: Yes, Your Honor.
THE COURT: Has your attorney advised you the
maximum that the law provides upon conviction of these
offenses?
THE DEFENDANT: Yes, Your Honor.
THE COURT: It's my understanding, sir, that upon
conviction of these offenses, and I'm going to go over them
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United States of America v. Stewart
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with you with regard to Count 1, that you can serve five years
of imprisonment, a fine of $250,000, a special assessment,
pursuant to statute and supervised release, for a three-year
maximum.
Do you understand with regard to the false statement
charge that's the maximum that the law provides?
THE DEFENDANT: Yes, Your Honor.
THE COURT: Do you understand with regard to Count
2, wire fraud, that is 20 years of imprisonment, a fine of
$250,000 or not more than the greater or twice the gross gain
derived by a person from the offense or twice the gross loss
to a person other than the defendant resulting from the
offense?
Do you understand that, sir?
THE DEFENDANT: Yes, Your Honor.
THE COURT: Do you also know that you could be
required to pay restitution?
THE DEFENDANT: Yes, Your Honor.
THE COURT: And that there is massive forfeiture.
THE DEFENDANT: Yes, Your Honor.
THE COURT: And also a special assessment and
supervised release, again, for a maximum of three years?
THE DEFENDANT: Yes, Your Honor.
THE COURT: Do you understand, with regard to Count
3 of the indictment, theft of government funds, that you can
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serve ten years of imprisonment, again, a fine of $250,000 or
not more than the greater or twice the gross gain derived by
the person from the offense or twice the gross loss to a
person other than the defendant resulting from the offense.
Do you understand that, sir?
THE DEFENDANT: Yes, sir.
THE COURT: Do you understand, again, that you can
be required to pay restitution?
THE DEFENDANT: Yes, Your Honor.
THE COURT: And that you can have a forfeiture of
assets?
THE DEFENDANT: Yes, Your Honor.
THE COURT: And that you can pay a special
assessment, in this case up to $100.
THE DEFENDANT: Yes, Your Honor.
THE COURT: And, again, supervised release for a
maximum of three years?
THE DEFENDANT: Yes, Your Honor.
THE COURT: Do you understand that that is the
aggregate of the charges and the maximum punishment that can
be provided in the case if the Court deemed it appropriate.
THE DEFENDANT: Yes, Your Honor.
THE COURT: Do you understand by entering this plea
of guilty you waive certain constitutional rights. Let me go
over those rights with you.
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United States of America v. Stewart
Tonia M. Harris OCR-USDC/EDVA 703-646-1438
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Do you understand that you waive your right to a
trial by jury?
THE DEFENDANT: Yes, Your Honor.
THE COURT: Do you understand that you waive your
right not to speak against yourself?
THE DEFENDANT: Yes, Your Honor.
THE COURT: Do you understand you waive the right to
challenge or confront and cross-examine your accusers?
THE DEFENDANT: Yes, Your Honor.
THE COURT: Do you understand that you waive your
right to defend yourself?
THE DEFENDANT: Yes, Your Honor.
THE COURT: Do you understand that you also waive
your right to have the court subpoena witnesses on your behalf
who may testify in support of your case?
Do you understand that you also waive that right?
THE DEFENDANT: Yes, Your Honor.
THE COURT: And you also understand, sir, by
entering this plea of guilty, you waive certain appeal rights.
Let me go over those with you.
You waive your right to appeal the determination of
guilt, but you do not waive your right under limited
circumstances to appeal the determination of what the
appropriate sentence is in this case if the Court does not
adhere to the requirements of the 3553(a) factors.
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EASTERN DISTRICT OF VIRGINIA
United States of America v. Stewart
Tonia M. Harris OCR-USDC/EDVA 703-646-1438
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Do you understand that, sir?
THE DEFENDANT: Yes, Your Honor.
THE COURT: Do you understand, sir, that you signed
a form that's called Notice of Right to Appeal Sentences Under
Limited Circumstances? It purports to have your signature
thereon and the signature of your attorney.
Did you, in fact, sign this form?
THE DEFENDANT: Yes, Your Honor.
THE COURT: Did you read it before you signed it?
THE DEFENDANT: Yes, Your Honor.
THE COURT: And if you had any questions regarding
that form, did Mr. Jenkins answer those questions?
MR. JENKINS: Yes, Your Honor.
THE COURT: I'll direct that the notice of right to
appeal sentence under limited circumstances be made a part of
the record in this case.
Mr. Jenkins, I'm going to, with your permission,
interlineate your client's name here in the captioned section.
It's after "signature," but I want to make sure that you're
fine with that, sir.
MR. JENKINS: Yes, Your Honor.
THE COURT: Very good. The Court will interlineate
the Robert S. Stewart, Jr. on the form and direct that that,
along with the waiver of indictment, be made a part of the
record in this matter.
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EASTERN DISTRICT OF VIRGINIA
United States of America v. Stewart
Tonia M. Harris OCR-USDC/EDVA 703-646-1438
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Sir, I understand that you and the government have
entered into a plea agreement in this matter?
THE DEFENDANT: Yes, Your Honor.
THE COURT: I have in my hand a document entitled,
"Plea Agreement." Again, it purports to have your signature
thereon, the signature of your attorney, and the signature of
the representative of the United States government.
Did you, in fact, sign this, sir?
THE DEFENDANT: Yes, Your Honor.
THE COURT: Did you read it before you signed it?
THE DEFENDANT: Yes, Your Honor.
THE COURT: And, again, if you had any questions
regarding this plea agreement, Mr. Jenkins answered those
questions for you?
THE DEFENDANT: Yes.
THE COURT: I'll direct that the plea agreement be
made a part of record in this matter.
I'll also ask the government, at this point, to put
on a prima facie case. You may have a seat, sir.
MR. FITZPATRICK: Yes, Your Honor.
As the Court knows, Counsel and Mr. Stewart filed or
signed and submitted to Your Honor a lengthy Statement of
Facts. And if the Court will permit, I'll just summarize the
facts that support each essential element for each of the
three counts.
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EASTERN DISTRICT OF VIRGINIA
United States of America v. Stewart
Tonia M. Harris OCR-USDC/EDVA 703-646-1438
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THE COURT: Without objection, Mr. Jenkins?
MR. JENKINS: No objection, Your Honor.
THE COURT: Thank you, sir.
MR. FITZPATRICK: Your Honor, with respect to Count
1 and Count 2, Mr. Stewart was the CEO and sole owner of
Federal Government Experts, a company based in Falls Church,
Virginia within the Eastern District of Virginia, that would
provide various services to various government entities.
Between April 1, 2020 and May 14, 2020, Mr. Stewart
made materially false representations to the VA and to FEMA in
order to -- in order to be awarded a very lucrative contract
to provide PPE, Personal Protective Equipment, in particular,
N95 masks, to the VA and to FEMA. Because FEMA and the VA
were acquiring these masks to be provided to -- in furtherance
of their missions, these are matters within the executive
branch of the United States government as required by statute.
Specifically, the false statements, as set forth in
greater detail in the Statement of Facts that Mr. Stewart made
to procurement officials at FEMA and at the VA, were that he
had -- he had large quantities of N95 masks and other PPE on
hand, that he had possession of these materials and was ready
to convey them to the government in fulfillment of the
contract. At the time Mr. Stewart made these statements, he
well knew that he did not have actual or constructive
possession of large quantities of these masks.
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EASTERN DISTRICT OF VIRGINIA
United States of America v. Stewart
Tonia M. Harris OCR-USDC/EDVA 703-646-1438
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Based on Mr. Stewart's false representations to the
procurement officials, both the VA and FEMA awarded
Mr. Stewart and FGE various contracts to provide these
materials. Specifically, the contracts in total, with respect
to both the VA contract and the FEMA contract, called for a
total of 6,000,500 N95 masks and for FGE to be paid a total of
$38,510,000.
Mr. Stewart was, obviously, didn't have possession
of the masks. He attempted to acquire possession of the
masks, he was unable to do it, he was unable to provide those
masks to the government, and --
THE COURT: It was unclear in the Statement of
Facts, did he actually get paid this money?
MR. FITZPATRICK: I'm sorry, Your Honor, I was just
going to make that point. No, Your Honor.
The contract called for payment upon delivery and
inspection. Because Mr. Stewart never delivered the masks, he
was never paid. So that's just what the contract called for,
but there's no actual loss to the federal government with
respect to Count 1.
I would note, however, Your Honor, that even though
there was no actual loss to the government, the way the
procurement process works is, once that money -- once that
contract is entered into, that money is frozen.
THE COURT: It's earmarked for that particular
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EASTERN DISTRICT OF VIRGINIA
United States of America v. Stewart
Tonia M. Harris OCR-USDC/EDVA 703-646-1438
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purpose and no one can access it for other purposes.
MR. FITZPATRICK: Exactly, Your Honor. Yes. So it
did impact the procurement process, but there was no actual
loss to the federal government.
The false statements, obviously, were communicated
from Mr. Stewart's business in Falls Church and/or from his
residence in Arlington County, Virginia, but that's the video
venue the false statements were made from the Eastern District
of Virginia.
Count 2, as the Court noted, is an allegation of
wire fraud in violation of Title 18 United States Code Section
1343. The wire fraud scheme revolves around false statements
that Mr. Stewart made in applications for loans. One loan was
from Celtic Bank and it was backed by the federal government
and, in particular, the Small Business Administration. That
loan was part of a government program legislated through the
CARES Act, known as the Payroll Protection Program. And that
program was designed to provide money, essentially, to be a
lifeline to struggling businesses impacted by the COVID-19
pandemic, and to allow businesses to pay for a very limited or
use money for very limited purposes: To make payroll, to pay
interest on a mortgage, to pay for their employees'
healthcare.
THE COURT: There is a suggestion in the Statement
of Facts that this gentleman alleged that he had in excess of
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30 employees when in fact he only had seven, eight, or nine or
something.
MR. FITZPATRICK: Precisely, Your Honor. And there
was a second loan there as well based on the Economic Injury
Disaster Loan program for essentially -- which is strictly
from the Small Business Administration. But the materially
false statements on the loan applications were precisely that,
that FGE had more employees than it really did, had a larger
payroll than it really did, and those were material facts that
were important in not only awarding both the PPP loan, but
also the EIDL loan. Those were two factors that determined
whether or not a company was eligible to receive the loan in
the first place, and, if so, what the -- the amount of loan
that was to be given.
THE COURT: And contrary to the loans that were --
the financial circumstances associated with the N95 masks, I'm
assuming that he actually received that money.
MR. FITZPATRICK: He did, Your Honor. So the
specific amount was --
THE COURT: $330,000 or something like that.
MR. FITZPATRICK: Yes, Your Honor. So with respect
to the PPP loan, Mr. Stewart received a total of $805,000 as
set forth in the Statement of Facts, but Mr. Stewart was able
to repay $791,507. So with respect to the PPP loan, the
actual loss amount is rather small.
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The EIDL loan that was -- that was dispersed in
March, there was a total of $261,500 that was dispersed to
Mr. Stewart and to FGE. None of that money has been repaid.
So the loss amount, the restitution amount, is just being
driven by the actual loss.
THE COURT: Pursuant to the government's
investigation in this matter, were you able to discern what
Mr. Stewart spent this money on.
MR. FITZPATRICK: Various things. Some of the money
was spent for personal purposes. Some of the money was traced
to pay off personal credit cards, things of that nature. Some
of the money was spent to, essentially, try to acquire the PPP
and -- I'm sorry the PPE, the N95 masks, to comply with the or
to satisfy the earlier contracts.
THE COURT: Did he ever use any of the money to pay
the employees who were part of his staff?
MR. FITZPATRICK: I believe some. Some of the money
went to pay employees. A good amount of the money went to pay
himself, which is not consistent with both the letter or the
intent of the loan documents. It was to pay his employees,
not to pay himself, and, I believe, approximately -- we'll
certainly provide all of this information to pretrial, but I
believe it's about $60,000 went to Mr. Stewart as payroll to
himself. But Mr. Stewart did things, for example, like he
rented an airplane to fly to the Midwest in an effort to try
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to make contacts there, to gain -- to acquire PPE to satisfy
the contracts with FEMA and the VA. So there was definitely
some extravagant spending, and certainly spending that was
inconsistent with the four corners of what that money was
intended to be used for.
One other point I would make, Your Honor, is,
obviously, as part of the elements of the wire fraud that
Mr. Stewart did digitally submit the application for the EIDL
loan to the Small Business Administration from EDVA. The
Small Business Administration servers are located in the EDVA,
so that wire --
THE COURT: Which provides predicate for the
jurisdiction of this --
MR. FITZPATRICK: Yes, Your Honor. Precisely.
And finally, Your Honor, with respect to Count 3,
the theft of government funds. From September 20, 2013 to
October 30, 2020, Mr. Stewart received benefits from the VA.
Those benefits were artificially increased based on a false
application that Mr. Stewart had submitted to the VA. And
specifically, beginning on or about September of 2013 through
November 16, 2013, Mr. Stewart submitted documents to the
Veterans Administration in support of a claim for benefits --
educational benefits and medical benefits.
In support of that, Mr. Stewart submitted a DD214
form, which is a form that the Department of Defense and the
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VA uses to determine somebody's service in the United States
military. Here, Mr. Stewart falsely claimed that he served in
the United States Marine Corps. Mr. Stewart did serve in the
United States Air Force, but he never served in the United
States Marine Corps. On that form, which was simply a forged
and fraudulent form, he indicated that he had served, he had
obtained the rank of Corporal, and that he received numerous
accommodations and awards as part of his Marine Corps service.
That simply wasn't true. But based on the false and
fraudulent 214 form, the VA did approve his claim for
benefits. And over the course of several years, the total
amount of benefits that Mr. Stewart received, based on just
the false Marine Corps information, as opposed to his service
in the Air Force, totaled approximately $73,722.45.
THE COURT: Thank you, sir.
MR. FITZPATRICK: And obviously, Your Honor, if the
matter had gone to trial, the United States would have proven
those facts and others beyond a reasonable doubt through
admissible and credible evidence.
THE COURT: Thank you, sir for that presentation.
Mr. Stewart, you may stand, again, sir. I have
before me a document entitled, "Statement of Facts" which is a
more significant overview of the allegations that the
government alleges that support the charges against you.
Did you, in fact, sign this form, sir?
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THE DEFENDANT: Yes, Your Honor.
THE COURT: Did you read it before you signed it?
THE DEFENDANT: Yes, Your Honor.
THE COURT: And, again, if you had any questions
regarding the Statement of Facts, Mr. Jenkins answered those
questions for you.
THE DEFENDANT: Yes, Your Honor.
THE COURT: I'll direct that the Statement of Facts
be made a part of the record in this matter.
Sir, has anyone threatened you or forced you to
enter this plea of guilty?
THE DEFENDANT: No, Your Honor.
THE COURT: Have any promises been made to you
concerning your plea of guilty?
THE DEFENDANT: No, Your Honor.
THE COURT: Do you understand by entering this plea
of guilty you cannot refuse to testify potentially against
others who may be implicated in your bad acts?
THE DEFENDANT: Yes, Your Honor.
THE COURT: Do you now make any claim that you're
innocent of the charges before the Court?
THE DEFENDANT: No, Your Honor.
THE COURT: Do you understand that upon your plea of
guilty, the Court may accept or reject any agreement that has
been made between you and your counsel or any recommendation
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made by the probation department? Obviously, the Court will
consider the arguments of your lawyer and arguments of your
counsel. But do you understand, sir, that ultimately it is up
to the Court to decide what the appropriate sentence is in
this case?
THE DEFENDANT: Yes, Your Honor.
THE COURT: And do you understand that if I do
something that you disagree with, you would not be entitled to
withdraw your plea of guilty?
THE DEFENDANT: Yes, Your Honor.
THE COURT: Sir, are you a citizen of the United
States of America?
THE DEFENDANT: Yes, Your Honor.
THE COURT: Do you understand, sir, that if you are
not a citizen of the United States of America that there are
certain circumstances that might result because of your plea
of guilty and that includes the exclusion from admission to
this country, the denial of naturalization under federal law,
and other adverse immigration consequences.
Do you understand, sir, if you are not a citizen of
the United States of America?
THE DEFENDANT: Yes, Your Honor.
THE COURT: And do you understand that Mr. Jenkins
has no responsibility or obligation to you regarding those
circumstances; he is your criminal defense attorney and has no
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obligation to you in civil aspects?
THE DEFENDANT: Yes, Your Honor.
THE COURT: After having discussed the matter with
your attorney, do you freely and voluntarily enter this plea
of guilty and waive your right to trial by a jury and request
the Court to hear all matters of law and fact?
THE DEFENDANT: Yes, Your Honor.
THE COURT: Do you have any questions that you wish
to ask the Court before the Court decides to accept your pleas
of guilty?
THE DEFENDANT: No, Your Honor.
THE COURT: The Court being of the opinion that the
pleas of guilty and waiver of jury trial are voluntarily and
intelligently made with an understanding of the nature of the
charges and the consequences of said pleas of guilty and
waiver, thus, does accept the defendant's plea and waiver and
finds the defendant guilty of the charges outlined in the
charging documents.
Mr. Jenkins, do you have a sentencing date in mind,
sir?
MR. JENKINS: No, Your Honor. Whatever preference
the Court has.
THE COURT: I'm going to ask this delicately and I
think you'll understand what I'm asking. Is there any reason
for us to carry this out any length of time?
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MR. JENKINS: Yes, Your Honor, there is. If we
could have a date, Your Honor, after June.
THE COURT: Does the government have any objection
to that?
MR. FITZPATRICK: No, Your Honor. I would just ask
the Court, I do have a trial set, which I am certain is going
to go.
THE COURT: Well, you got that crystal ball, we're
going to be through the pandemic in June.
MR. FITZPATRICK: I don't. But based on Judge
Ellis's comments, I would be amazed if it doesn't. It is not
until the middle of July. So I would just ask the Court, if
possible, to avoid the last two weeks of July.
THE COURT: Well, Judge Ellis is the sage, and so
I'm always going to defer to the sage and I'm going to
immediately go up and talk to him about the news that he has
that apparently that I don't have, that we're going to be back
to normal in June.
MR. FITZPATRICK: Your Honor, if you could just keep
me as an anonymous informant.
THE COURT: I will say that I got it from a source.
MR. FITZPATRICK: Thank you, Your Honor.
THE COURT: All right, sir. Mr. Jenkins, how about
June 16?
MR. JENKINS: Your Honor, that's agreeable.
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THE COURT: Okay. Is that agreeable to the
government?
MR. FITZPATRICK: Yes, Your Honor.
THE COURT: June 16, and that will be at 11:00 a.m.
Mr. Jenkins, I'll hear from you on bond.
You may have a seat, Mr. Stewart.
MR. JENKINS: Your Honor, we would ask that the
Court set conditions of release in this matter.
Mr. Stewart is a man who is free of any prior
convictions whatsoever. Mr. Stewart has been aware of the
government's investigation of this matter. In fact, he also
is the subject of an investigation by the United States
Congress, which he's been aware of now for at least nine
months. I represent him in that matter also.
So certainly I think that the fact that Mr. Stewart
is here before the Court today, having had prior knowledge of
the fact that he was the subject of not one but two very
significant investigations that could result in him being
deprived of his liberty, but yet and still he appeared here
today, should speak volumes to the Court as to whether or not
he is a flight risk.
THE COURT: Where is his passport?
MR. JENKINS: Mr. Stewart, do you have a passport?
THE DEFENDANT: I do have a passport.
MR. JENKINS: Do you have possession of it?
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THE DEFENDANT: No, sir. I don't have it here.
MR. JENKINS: Your Honor, Mr. Stewart currently
resides in the state of Alabama. And that's why he's
representing to the Court that he does not have his passport
with him at this time. If so certainly directed by the Court,
Mr. Stewart can either surrender his passport to counsel and I
can assure that it either remains in my law firm safe, or if
the Court would feel more comfortable that it could be
submitted to pretrial services.
THE COURT: Your client has a question.
(Counsel and defendant confers.)
MR. JENKINS: Thank you, Your Honor.
Your Honor, Mr. Stewart advises me that in
preparation for today and his contacts with the pretrial
services officer, he was instructed that in the event that the
Court did set conditions of release that he would be directed
to turn the passport in in Alabama where he would be
supervised.
THE COURT: Okay.
MR. JENKINS: And he's prepared to do that.
THE COURT: All right. What's the government's
position?
MR. FITZPATRICK: Your Honor, the United States have
no reason to believe that an unsecured bond is not appropriate
in this case. As the Court mentioned, the only special
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condition we would ask is that the passport be surrendered to
pretrial services.
THE COURT: All right.
Mr. Stewart, I'm going to take a chance on you. The
facts, as they were presented by the government, were very
fair. I know Mr. Jenkins has suggested circumstances that
might sort of offset what I believe is bad conduct on your
part. Particularly, I was pleased to hear that you didn't get
the $30 million associated with the N95 masks. And from the
government's own presentation of the evidence, and I thought
that they were very fair to you in that presentation of the
evidence, it seems like to me that you were, as we used to
say, "robbing Peter to pay Paul," you were chasing those masks
and you thought that the PPE loan would get you to the point
where you could actually get the mask which would allow you to
get the contract. So it just became, again, a snowball
rolling down a hill that got worse, and worse, and worse.
As I said, I was inclined, after reading the
information made available to the Court, prior to your hearing
today, to lock you up, because I think what you did is not
only disadvantageous to your position as a citizen of the
United States, but you're essentially robbing from people, or
stealing from people, not robbing, stealing from people who
need these loans to make it work in society. People who are
struggling with their mortgages, people who are trying to put
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food on the table, feed their families, these are
opportunities for these people to actually withstand the
stresses associated with this pandemic and you were stealing
from them and stealing from everybody in this room.
But I think I understand what got you in trouble so
I'm going to give you the break. We're going to keep you on
the same conditions that existed. He's not on pretrial
services?
So we're going to go ahead and put him on pretrial
release. I'm going to let the probation office develop the
standard conditions of pretrial release that he's expected to
adhere to. I'm also going to direct that he surrender his
passport to you Mr. Jenkins. I don't want the probation
department in Alabama to have it, I want you to have it
because I know you, and I'll expect that if there are any
problems that we'll be made aware of that.
Sir, you need to do what you need to do in the
interim to put yourself in the best position you can next to
your sentencing date. You need to clean up the act as best
you can. I did notice that in your statement you do have some
financial wherewithal and so it's probably best that you do
what you can to direct that to satisfaction of the obligation
that you have financially to these cases. So you need to do
what you need to do, and I'm sure Mr. Jenkins will advise you
as to how to put yourself in that best position.
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Do you have any questions, sir?
MR. JENKINS: Yes, Your Honor.
Your Honor, with respect to the conditions of
release, as I noted, I'm also am engaged to represent
Mr. Stewart in a matter that's being investigated by a
subcommittee of the United States House of Representatives.
Mr. Stewart and I are in engaged in some negotiations that may
lead to Mr. Stewart providing some cooperation with their
efforts. So there may be a need for him to travel from
Alabama not just to this district but also to the District of
Columbia.
And we would -- we would ask that the Court permit
him to do so also.
THE COURT: All right. Let's do it this way. Any
travel that he needs to do, other than to the District of
Columbia, the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, which,
obviously, includes this court, needs to be specifically
approved by the Court, but the request that you've made in the
context of his travel to take care of his obligations
professionally, the Court will allow that to happen. But any
other travel, he needs to get it approved by the Court in
advance of him doing it.
MR. JENKINS: Understood, Your Honor. Thank you.
THE COURT: All right. We have some forms that your
client is going to need to sign. I'm sure Mr. Jenkins you can
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go over these forms with him.
(A pause in the proceedings.)
THE COURT: Do we need to direct him to the
probation department?
THE PROBATION OFFICER: Yes, Your Honor.
MR. FITZPATRICK: I was going to ask the Court as
well if you could ask Mr. Stewart to proceed to the marshals
at some point today for his probation process.
THE COURT: Mr. Jenkins, I'm sure that you can help
your client accomplish that objective.
MR. JENKINS: Yes.
(A pause in the proceedings.)
THE DEPUTY CLERK: Did you file the information for
this case?
MR. FITZPATRICK: Yes, I have a copy.
THE DEPUTY CLERK: Was it in the -- yeah, I don't
have it.
(Discussion off the record.)
THE COURT: Mr. Jenkins, the criminal information is
being handed up to be made a part of the record in this
matter. I'm sure you don't have any objection to that, sir.
MR. JENKINS: No objection, Your Honor.
THE COURT: Thank you. I'll direct that it be made
a part of the record.
Is there anything else we need to do?
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MR. FITZPATRICK: No, Your Honor.
MR. JENKINS: No, Your Honor.
THE COURT: All right, sir, Mr. Jenkins is going to
direct you to the United States Marshal's Office so that you
can then go to the probation department so we can make sure
that we have information necessary to engage in pretrial
supervision. So make sure that you follow Mr. Jenkins's
instructions, sir.
Do you have any questions?
THE DEFENDANT: No, Your Honor.
THE COURT: Very good.
(Proceedings adjourned at 1:05 p.m.)
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CERTIFICATE OF REPORTER
I, Tonia Harris, an Official Court Reporter for
the Eastern District of Virginia, do hereby certify that I
reported by machine shorthand, in my official capacity, the
proceedings had and testimony adduced upon the Plea hearing
in the case of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA versus ROBERT
S. STEWART, JR., Criminal Action No. 1:21-cr-00005, in said
court on the 3rd day of February, 2021.
I further certify that the foregoing 29 pages
constitute the official transcript of said proceedings, as
taken from my machine shorthand notes, my computer realtime
display, together with the backup tape recording of said
proceedings to the best of my ability.
In witness whereof, I have hereto subscribed my
name, March 14, 2021.
______________________________
Tonia M. Harris, RPR
Official Court Reporter
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