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Law360 (June 11, 2020, 5:31 PM EDT) -- Wielding a pen to rule on a pair of "Varsity Blues" motions, a Massachusetts federal judge on Thursday denied requests by two mothers who pled guilty in the college admissions case to swap their prison sentences for home confinement due to the COVID-19 pandemic, citing the abating of the public health crisis.
In a pair of handwritten orders, U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton rejected the motions from Michelle Janavs, the daughter of the inventor of the Hot Pocket snack, and fellow defendant Elizabeth Henriquez, who are set to report to prison June 30.
Janavs had asked the court to let her serve her five-month sentence from home, and Henriquez likewise sought to modify her seven-month term, with both arguing their ages and unspecified health issues put them at risk should they come into contact with someone who has the coronavirus while in custody.
Writing on the cover page of Janavs' June 3 motion, Judge Gorton noted that "although the current public health crisis is not ended, it has abated and will likely continue to abate over the next few months."
The judge offered Janavs the option of postponing when she would report to jail until Aug. 31, but said the court "will not convert the sentence imposed to home confinement."
Judge Gorton rejected Henriquez's June 2 filing with a simple "Motion denied."
Both Henriquez and Janavs pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and honest services mail and wire fraud.
Prosecutors say the pair worked separately with "Varsity Blues" mastermind William "Rick" Singer to cheat on standardized tests, five times in Henriquez's case and twice in Janavs' case, and paid bribes so their children would be recruited falsely as student-athletes to Georgetown University and the University of Southern California, respectively.
At Henriquez's sentencing via video conference in late March, as the pandemic was taking hold across the nation, Judge Gorton warned that the crisis wouldn't cause the court to "forfeit the obligation of a federal judge to impose a sentence that is warranted by the defendant's conduct. In this case, that is a period of incarceration."
Prosecutors opposed the motions to modify the defendants' sentences, saying neither is in a COVID-19 risk category and accusing them of seeking to use the "current pandemic to escape meaningful punishment for their crimes."
Counsel for Janavs declined to comment on Thursday's order and representatives for the government and Henriquez were not immediately available for comment.
The government is represented by Eric S. Rosen, Justin D. O'Connell, Kristen A. Kearney, Karin M. Bell, Stephen Frank and Leslie Wright of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts.
Janavs is represented by Thomas H. Bienert Jr. and John Littrell of Bienert Katzman PC, William Weinreb of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP, and Jonathan L. Kotlier of Nutter McClennen & Fish LLP.
Henriquez is represented by Aaron M. Katz, Laura G. Hoey and Colleen A. Conry of Ropes & Gray LLP.
The case is U.S. v. Sidoo et al., case number 1:19-cr-10080, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts.
--Editing by Michael Watanabe.
For a reprint of this article, please contact reprints@law360.com.
