UNPUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT No. 18-4470 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff – Appellee, v. FELIX ADRIANO CHUJOY, a/k/a Felix Chujoy Alvarado, Defendant – Appellant. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia, at Harrisonburg. Michael F. Urbanski, Chief District Judge. (5:15-cr-00029-MFU-1) Submitted: January 8, 2019 Decided: April 30, 2019 Before RICHARDSON and QUATTLEBAUM, Circuit Judges, and DUNCAN, Senior Circuit Judge. Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion. Aaron L. Cook, COOK ATTORNEYS, Harrisonburg, Virginia, for Appellant. Thomas Cullen, United States Attorney, Roanoke, Virginia, Kate Rumsey, Special Assistant United States Attorney, OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY, Charlottesville, Virginia, for Appellee. Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit. PER CURIAM: Felix Chujoy appeals the district court’s denial of his motion for judgment of acquittal of his conviction for witness tampering of Mike Kwiatkowski under 18 U.S.C. § 1512(b)(1), conspiracy to engage in witness tampering under 18 U.S.C. § 1512(k), and obstruction of justice under 18 U.S.C. § 1503. Chujoy argues that the evidence is insufficient to support the jury’s finding that he knowingly used “corrupt persuasion” against a witness. Because we conclude that a reasonable jury could have found that Chujoy corruptly persuaded a witness to change his testimony, we affirm. I. The events giving rise to the charges at issue here stem from a separate prosecution. In that case, Chujoy and his mother, Maria Rosalba Alvarado McTague, were indicted on several counts of human trafficking and for immigration violations related to the operation of McTague’s restaurant, Inca’s Secret. See United States v. McTague, No. 5:14-CR-00055, 2015 WL 13158499, at *1 (W.D. Va. Dec. 10, 2015). Chujoy was arrested and released on bond on the condition that he avoid all contact with potential witnesses in the McTague case. As a result of suspected interactions with such witnesses, however, Chujoy was charged with witness tampering in a second indictment. He was subsequently rearrested. While Chujoy was detained upon rearrest, the Department of Homeland Security interviewed Kwiatkowski, a close friend of Chujoy’s, in connection with its investigation into the McTague case. Though not intimately familiar with the operation of Inca’s 2 Secret, Kwiatkowski had on at least one occasion helped Chujoy transport restaurant employees. While transporting the employees, Chujoy told Kwiatkowski that they were “illegal.” J.A. 365. During an interview with agents in June 2015, Kwiatkowski suggested that Chujoy could not be trusted because of his tendency to be dishonest. That statement was later disclosed to Chujoy. After learning of Kwiatkowski’s statement, Chujoy took several actions that would later give rise to a third indictment--the one at issue in this appeal--involving witness tampering of Kwiatkowski. First, Chujoy made a series of calls about Kwiatkowski to Donald Smith--a close friend of Chujoy’s who, at the time, was Deputy Sheriff in Augusta County, Virginia. 1 In these calls, Chujoy expressed concern that Kwiatkowski had mistakenly taken statements Chujoy had made in jest as true and had shared them with law enforcement, and he ...
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