United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit ____________ FILED June 13, 2023 No. 21-30501 ____________ Lyle W. Cayce Clerk United States of America,

Plaintiff—Appellee,

versus

Chad Allen Scott,

Defendant—Appellant. ______________________________

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana USDC No. 2:17-CR-181-1 ______________________________

Before King, Jones, and Duncan, Circuit Judges. Stuart Kyle Duncan, Circuit Judge: A federal jury convicted former law enforcement officer Chad Scott of multiple counts of falsifying government documents, obstruction of justice, perjury, and property conversion. Scott was sentenced to 160 months in prison. He appeals his convictions and sentence. We affirm. I. Background A. Facts When he was an agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration (“DEA”), Chad Scott led a taskforce of local law enforcement officers that Case: 21-30501 Document: 00516785092 Page: 2 Date Filed: 06/13/2023

No. 21-30501

targeted drug trafficking in the New Orleans Northshore area.1 The core of this “Northshore Group” consisted of Scott, Karl Newman, Rodney Gemar, and Johnny Domingue. The team was successful in disrupting the drug supply chain, particularly by using informants. But at some point the officers themselves began breaking the law. They started relatively small, stealing modest amounts of money or property from people they arrested. Their crimes escalated over time, though. For example, Scott once collected about $2,000 from seized wallets to fund a trip to Spain. The team also began skimming cash from drug busts. On one occasion, they seized $16,000 but declared only $5,900 to the DEA. On another, they seized $76,000 but declared only $47,000. Scott also falsified documents in order to seize a truck from Frederick Brown, a dealer-turned-informant. Initially, he considered seizing Brown’s limited-edition Ford F-150 before learning it had too many miles. Scott had an idea: he told Brown to buy a new Ford F-150 and hand it over to “show good faith.” Brown complied and delivered the new truck to Scott at a gas station in Cypress, Texas on July 25 or 26, 2014.2 Scott drove the truck back to New Orleans, where he told Newman to doctor the paperwork. Newman declared that the truck had been seized at the DEA office in Louisiana, not at a Texas gas station. Scott then wrote in the probable-cause section that the truck was seized on July 28 after he met

_____________________ 1 The Northshore refers to parishes just north of Lake Ponchartrain, including Tangipahoa and St. Tammany Parishes. The taskforce mainly worked in Tangipahoa Parish, roughly 40 miles north of New Orleans. 2 Brown also left a Rolex in the glove box that he wanted “turn[] over” to Scott. During the handoff, Brown asked “how much it’ll take for this case [against him] to go away.” Scott replied that Brown “d[idn’t] have enough money.”

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