United States Court of Appeals For the Eighth Circuit ___________________________ No. 19-1477 ___________________________ United States of America lllllllllllllllllllllPlaintiff - Appellee v. Luis Gonzalez-Esparsa lllllllllllllllllllllDefendant - Appellant ____________ Appeal from United States District Court for the Northern District of Iowa - Dubuque ____________ Submitted: January 16, 2020 Filed: April 22, 2020 ____________ Before BENTON, GRASZ, and STRAS, Circuit Judges. ____________ GRASZ, Circuit Judge. Luis Gonzalez-Esparsa was convicted of unlawful use of an identification document in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1546(a), and misuse of a social security number in violation of 42 U.S.C. § 408(a)(7)(B). The district court1 sentenced Gonzalez- Esparsa to five months of imprisonment and three years of supervised release. 1 The Honorable C.J. Williams, District Judge for the Northern District of Iowa. Gonzalez-Esparsa appealed both the sufficiency of the evidence, and the substantive reasonableness of the five-month sentence. However, Gonzalez-Esparsa concedes his challenge to his sentence is now moot. Only his challenges to his conviction are before us on appeal. We affirm. I. Background Gonzalez-Esparsa, a native and citizen of Mexico, has never been lawfully present in the United States. In 2018, he was hired by Midwest Concrete Inc. in Peosta, Iowa. As part of his employment onboarding, Gonzalez-Esparsa was required to complete a Form I-9, W-4 tax forms, and an employment application. The I-9, along with other employment paperwork, was completed using a permanent resident card with an Alien Registration Number. Additionally, the W-4 was completed using a social security number, representing that this was the number Gonzalez-Esparsa was assigned by the Commissioner of Social Security. It was later determined the Alien Registration Number on the permanent resident card did not belong to Gonzalez-Esparsa, but to a female from Mexico. The social security number presented was also assigned to another person. Gonzalez-Esparsa’s use of the false permanent resident card and social security number came to light after he was arrested for a different violation. After the arrest, the county jail contacted Deportation Officer Billy Walker to release Gonzalez- Esparsa to him on an immigration detainer. Gonzalez-Esparsa admitted to Officer Walker he was illegally present in the United States. Officer Walker initiated removal proceedings, and in the process noticed Gonzalez-Esparsa was wearing a Midwest Concrete shirt. As Officer Walker began to piece together that Gonzalez- Esparsa had been in the United States since about 2000, but was not in the immigration system or a lawful resident, he decided to contact Midwest Concrete to inquire about Gonzalez-Esparsa’s status with the company. -2- Midwest Concrete provided Officer Walker with Gonzalez-Esparsa’s I-9, state and federal W-4s, and copies of the permanent resident card and social security card used for the I-9. Officer Walker soon determined the permanent resident card and social security card presented to Midwest Concrete were not lawfully issued to Gonzalez-Esparsa. Gonzalez-Esparsa was then charged with unlawful use of an identification document and misuse of a social security number in violation of federal laws. During the jury trial, after the close of the government’s evidence, Gonzalez- Esparsa moved for ...
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