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Parties Involved:
Perrissa Dedranette Dixon
Appellant
United States of America
Appellee

Document Text:

[DO NOT PUBLISH]

IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT

________________________

No. 15-13402

Non-Argument Calendar

________________________

D.C. Docket No. 4:14-cr-00058-MW-CAS-1

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 

 Plaintiff-Appellee,

 versus

PERRISSA DEDRANETTE DIXON, 

 Defendant-Appellant.

________________________

Appeal from the United States District Court

for the Northern District of Florida

________________________

(January 3, 2017)

Before WILLIAM PRYOR, MARTIN, and FAY, Circuit Judges.

PER CURIAM: 

Perrissa Dixon appeals the 132-month sentence she received based on her 

conviction for conspiracy to commit wire fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1343 

and 1349, and aggravated identity theft and aiding and abetting in violation of 18 

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U.S.C. §§ 1028A(a)(1) and 2. In particular, Dixon appeals the district court’s 14-

level enhancement for the amount of loss, under United States Sentencing 

Guidelines § 2B1.1(b)(1)(H), and the 2-level enhancement she received for the 

production of an unauthorized access device, under § 2B1.1(b)(11)(B)(i). After 

careful review, we affirm.

I.

Dixon pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud under 18 U.S.C. 

§§ 1343 and 1349, and aggravated identity theft and aiding and abetting under 18 

U.S.C. §§ 1028A(a)(1) and 2. Dixon’s plea agreement contained a statement of 

facts detailing that she and her coconspirators filed fraudulent tax returns online

using the personally identifiable information of others. When officers searched 

Dixon’s home, they found personal information for about 180 people, as well as 

twenty-seven debit cards obtained by using victims’ names. The debit cards were 

such that they could be loaded with refunds from fraudulent tax returns filed in the 

victims’ names. Victims told law enforcement they had not authorized filing the 

tax returns or issuing the debit cards. In at least one case, a fax machine in Dixon’s 

home was used to verify information needed for the issuance of the debit card with 

the refund money on it. Dixon purchased some people’s personal information

from Katrina Pratt, who worked at Florida A&M University and had access to 

students’ information. The conspiracy claimed $877,042 in fraudulent refunds, 

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and the U.S. Department of Treasury actually paid $528,153 of that amount. 

$35,476.00 of the paid claims were directed or deposited into Dixon’s accounts. 

The district court sentenced Dixon to consecutive prison terms of 108-

months for the conspiracy to commit wire fraud and 24-months for aggravated 

identity theft and aiding and abetting, resulting in her 132-month sentence. The 

court adopted the presentence investigation report (“PSR”), which calculated a 

total offense level of 33 with a criminal history category of I for a guideline range 

of 135 to 168 months on the conspiracy to commit wire fraud count. The court 

imposed the below-guideline sentence of 108 months on this count. The district 

court imposed a consecutive 24-month sentence for the aggravated identity theft 

and aiding and abetting count. The PSR calculation for the conspiracy to commit 

wire fraud count included a 14-level increase for a loss of more than $400,000 

under USSG § 2B1.1(b)(1)(H) (2014); a 2-level increase for the production of an 

unauthorized access device under § 2B1.1(b)(11)(B)(i); and a 4-level increase 

because Dixon led a criminal activity that involved five or more participants under 

§ 3B1.1(a). During the course of the sentencing hearing, the district court 

overruled Dixon’s objections to the guidelines calculation. On appeal, Dixon 

challenges only the loss calculation that resulted in a 14-level increase in her 

guideline range, as well as the 2-level increase for production of an unauthorized 

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access device. We thus restrict our discussion of the sentencing hearing to those 

rulings.

At the sentencing hearing, the district court “[found] that the Government 

has more than met its burden to establish that . . . the loss [was] in excess of 

[$]400,000.” In support of this decision, the district court pointed to two IP 

addresses used to file the fraudulent tax returns, one linked to Dixon’s residence 

and the other linked to accounts and information connected to Dixon. The court

further pointed to Pratt’s testimony that she gave students’ personal information to 

Dixon, and to the tax returns filed fraudulently for those students in successive 

years. The district court noted common patterns in the information put into the 

fraudulent returns, including wage and withholding amounts. The court explained

none of the facts alone were dispositive, but taken together they created a 

“convincing mosaic of circumstantial evidence . . . that ties [Dixon] squarely to 

these addresses, squarely to these tax returns, and squarely to these individuals 

whose identities were being used.” The district court rejected Dixon’s argument 

that she should be sentenced only for the money put into her account, saying “the 

standard is clearly reasonably foreseeable acts of conspirators in furtherance of the 

conspiracy.” The court noted that Dixon did not need to file or benefit from each 

tax return in order for those acts to be reasonably foreseeable. 

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The district court also overruled Dixon’s objection to the 2-level increase for 

production of an unauthorized access device. It noted there was evidence of 

production of devices including debit cards. The court specifically listed the debit 

cards found during the search of Dixon’s home, as well as two exhibits of debitcard records produced at sentencing. 

II.

We review the district court’s factual findings, including the loss calculation

and the finding that Dixon produced an unauthorized access device, for clear error. 

See United States v. Taylor, 818 F.3d 671, 673 (11th Cir. 2016); United States v. 

Baldwin, 774 F.3d 711, 727–28 (11th Cir. 2014). 

The district court applied the Guidelines and determined that a 14-level 

increase was appropriate under USSG § 2B1.1 because there was a loss greater 

than $400,000. Section 2B1.1 defines loss as the greater of actual or intended loss. 

USSG § 2B1.1 cmt. n.3(A). It defines actual loss as “the reasonably foreseeable 

pecuniary harm” resulting from the offense. Id. cmt. n.3(A)(i). And it defines

“reasonably foreseeable pecuniary harm” as monetary harm “that the defendant 

knew or, under the circumstances, reasonably should have known, was a potential 

result of the offense.” Id. cmt. n.3(A)(iii–iv).

The district court increased Dixon’s sentence due to her leadership role in 

the conspiracy, finding she recruited others into the conspiracy. It also found that 

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Dixon got the personal information for a number of victims from Pratt. These 

victims’ tax returns were filed during several years of the conspiracy, tying Dixon 

to the conspiracy for at least that period of time. The district court also linked two 

IP addresses used to file the fraudulent tax returns to Dixon. And the district court 

pointed out common patterns in the information put into the returns, including 

wage and withholding amounts. 

Dixon argues the district court erred by not making sufficient individualized 

findings that all the actions of the coconspirators were within the scope of the 

conspiracy. She says the district court should have sentenced her based on only the 

$35,476 directly in her control. Dixon also submits that ten people lived in the 

residence connected to the IP address, and that there was no testimony about the 

refund amounts her codefendants received. 

Dixon does not demonstrate the district court clearly erred. “A district court 

may hold participants in a conspiracy responsible for the losses resulting from the 

reasonably foreseeable acts of co-conspirators in furtherance of the conspiracy.” 

United States v. Mateos, 623 F.3d 1350, 1370 (11th Cir. 2010) (quotation omitted). 

But “[a] district court must determine the scope of the defendant’s criminal activity 

prior to considering all reasonably foreseeable acts of co-conspirators.” Baldwin, 

774 F.3d at 727. The district court made individualized findings about Dixon and 

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her role in the conspiracy linking her to its entire scope. Thus, the loss attributed 

to the entire conspiracy was reasonably foreseeable to her.

III.

The district court also enhanced Dixon’s guideline range by 2-levels for 

producing an unauthorized access device. U.S.S.G. § 2B1.1(b)(11)(B)(i). This 

Court’s precedent provides that unauthorized debit cards are unauthorized access 

devices. Baldwin, 774 F.3d at 722, 728 (citing 18 U.S.C. § 1029(e)(1)). 

The district court found evidence of production of devices such as debit 

cards. It ruled that the debit cards found at Dixon’s home together with the two 

exhibits of debit-card records introduced at sentencing suggested Dixon produced

the cards. 

Dixon argues these cards and records are not sufficient to conclude she 

produced the cards herself. She also points out the district court did not find the 

production of the cards was reasonably foreseeable to her. 

We uphold this sentencing enhancement because it is clearly supported by 

the record. See United States v. Hesser, 800 F.3d 1310, 1330 (11th Cir. 2015) (per 

curiam); United States v. Taylor, 88 F.3d 938, 944 (11th Cir. 1996). The record 

clearly demonstrates that the production of debit cards was reasonably foreseeable 

to Dixon. See Baldwin, 774 F.3d at 728. She pleaded guilty to a conspiracy that 

used victims’ personal information to file fraudulent tax returns and load their 

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refunds onto debit cards opened in their names. Twenty-seven of these debit cards 

were seized in Dixon’s home, and the fax machine in her home was used to get at 

least one of these cards. The record therefore clearly includes enough evidence to 

show Dixon could reasonably foresee the production of the debit cards for the 

conspiracy. See USSG § 2B1.1 cmt. n.10(A) (“‘Production’ includes manufacture, 

design, alteration, authentication, duplication, or assembly.”). The district court 

did not err in sentencing Dixon.

AFFIRMED.

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