United States v. Collins

56 F.3d 1416 (1995)

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United States v. Collins

United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia
56 F.3d 1416 (1995)

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Facts

Peter Collins (defendant) worked for the United States Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) as a civilian technical analyst. He was also a ballroom-dancing enthusiast and, over the course of several years, used DIA office photocopiers, computers, and office supplies to maintain ballroom-dancing competition calendars, newsletters, and other materials, totaling over 56,000 copies for these purposes. Collins also received over $20,000 in postage reimbursement for ballroom-dancing newsletters and materials he shipped using the DIA’s account, and he maintained a database of ballroom-dancing contacts on a classified computer system created to distribute military information to intelligence analysts. Collins was charged and convicted of converting government computer time and storage and office supplies for his own use in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 641, which prohibited the knowing use or conversion for personal use of anything of value owned by the government. Collins appealed, arguing that the statute did not cover intangible property like computer time or storage.

Rule of Law

Issue

Holding and Reasoning (Per curiam)

Dissent (Sentelle, J.)

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