United States v. Purvis
Defendants Cheryl Purvis and Cynthia Johnson, payroll clerks at a Veteran's Administration Medical Center in the Bronx, are facing charges including conspiracy, bribery, and theft of public monies. The government alleges they fraudulently manipulated payroll records, leading to inflated paychecks and then solicited kickbacks from co-workers who received these overpayments. The scheme was exposed when a co-worker reported an overpayment. The defendants moved to dismiss the bribery counts, arguing misinterpretation of 18 U.S.C. § 201 and duplication of theft charges. The court denied this motion, asserting the broad scope of § 201 and distinguishing the bribery from theft charges. Defendant Purvis also sought to sever her case, claiming prejudice from a joint trial due to potentially antagonistic defenses. This motion was also denied, as the court found insufficient grounds to justify severance based on factual inconsistencies rather than mutually exclusive defenses.