[PUBLISH] IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUI T

________________________ No. 13

- 13962

________________________ D.C. Docket No. 0:13

- cr - 60024

- WPD

- 1

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA , Plaintiff

- Appell ee , versus NAEL SAMMOUR , Defendant

- Appell ant

.

________________________ Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida

_______________________ ( March 16, 2016 ) Before WILLIAM PRYOR and DUBINA , Circuit Judges , and ROBRENO , * District Judge

. WILLIAM PRYOR, Circuit Judge :

* Honorable Eduardo C . Robreno, United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, sitting by designation.

Case: 13-13962 Date Filed: 03/16/2016 Page: 1 of 292 This appeal requires us to review the convictions and se ntence of Nael Sammour , who participated in a scheme to file fraudulent income tax returns with stolen identities. Sammour, an Arab Muslim, argues that he was denied a fair trial after a juror , at the start of deliberations, slipped a note to the clerk stating that she feared for her safety because “ t his reeks of al Qaeda.” The juror expressed this fear even though Sammour was charged with identity theft ; the case had not hing to do with terrorism or al Qaeda. Exercising its “ broad discretion ” in dealing with potential juror bias, United States v. Chiantese , 582 F.2d 974, 980 (5th Cir. 1978), the district court questioned the juror outside the presence of the other jurors, dispelled her fears, and found that she could be fair and impartial before returning her to the jury room

. Sammour quibbles with the questions the district court asked and th e credibility determination it made, but the dis trict court is expert in these
matters. See Patton v. Yount , 467 U.S. 1025, 1038

– 39 (1984)

. It interacts with jurors every day (we never do), and it was present when the juror answered its questions (we were not). The district court did not abuse its discretion. And Sammour ’s challenges to the sufficiency of the evidence, the jury instructions, and the reasonableness of his sentence are meritless. We affirm.

Case: 13-13962 Date Filed: 03/16/2016 Page: 2 of 293 I. BACKGROUND Nael Sammour is a 55

- year - old man who owned a wholesale grocery store in Broward County, Florida. He is a n Arab Muslim who immigrated to the United States in 198 0

. And soon after, he started a life of crime in this country.
In 2012 , Sammour became involved in a scheme to file fraudulent income
tax returns. Sammour’s cohorts stole the name s and social security numbers of other persons and file d federal tax return s on their behalf. When the Treasury Department issued refund check s based on the fraudulent returns , t he fraudsters had the checks mailed to themselves

. Sammour’s job was to cash the checks

. He enlisted someone to create fake driver’s licenses and social security cards for the names on the checks

. B ut b ecause cashing f raudulent checks is difficult, S ammour needed someone with connections
to check

- cashing store s willing to look the other way

. The Internal Revenue Service detected this scheme and sent Agent Amjad Qaqish undercover to pose as an interested check

- casher. Agent Qaqish met with Sammour seve n times

. T heir meetings were conducted in Arabic, and Agent Qaqish surreptitiously recorded the meetings with a camera and microphone. All told, Sammour gave Agent Qaqish 70 Treasury checks totaling more than $700,000. Agent Qaqish never actually cashed th e checks, but he made small payments to Sammour to maintain their relationship

.

Case: 13-13962 Date Filed: 03/16/2016 Page: 3 of 294 Two meetings between Sammour and Agent Qaqish are particularly important. On November 17 , 2012 , Agent Qaqish met Sammour at a Starbucks coffee shop

. Sammour gave him a Treasury check for $377,049 made payable to “Alex Giorland” for Agent Qaqish to cash in exchange for a 25 percent commission. Sammour also gave him a fake driver’s license for “Alex Giorland” and an envelope with a social security number and date of bir th on it . On December 6, 2012, Agent Qaqish met Sammour at a Popeye’s restaurant

. Sammour gave Agent Qaqish a Treasury check for $5,318.25 made payable to “Angie H. Gonzales , ” as well as a fake driver’s license and social security card

. In the course of th ese meetings , Sammour revealed that he had a sophisticated understanding of the tax

- fraud scheme. He told Agent Qaqish that he

was “a hundred percent sur e” that the checks were “good.” “[T]he way this is done,” Sammour explained, “ is we set it up so where we pick one individual, give him three dependents, put down that he doesn’t make too much money, and then we’re able to maximize the amount of the refund that he gets

. ” “ [T] hey make sure their calculations are exactly accurate so they can maximize the refunds

. ” When Agent Qaqish expressed concern that the victims might report the checks as stolen , Sammour told him not to worry . H is cohorts select their victims “carefully” by

“ trying to find people that wouldn’t have filed tax returns .” “[W] e wait to mak e sure that whoever is gonna file has filed, and then we do this.”

Case: 13-13962 Date Filed: 03/16/2016 Page: 4 of 295 Sammour was arrested in January 2013

. A gents found two Treasury checks in his pockets worth $11,794.99 and three Treasury checks in his car worth $22,879.97. Those checks brought the total number of checks that Sammour had transferred or possessed to 75. A grand jury indicted Sammour on two counts of aggravated identity theft, 18 U.S.C. § 1028A , and eight counts of theft of public money, id. § 641 . Sammour pleaded guilty to the eight counts of theft of public money without the benefit of a plea agreement. But he went to trial on the two counts of aggravated identity theft

. At trial, t he government called four witnesses: Agent Qaqish , Agent Brad ley Cohen, Alex Giorlando, and Angie Huerta Gonzalez

. Agent Qaqish testified about the undercover sting and his meetings with Sammour. The jury watched the videotapes of the meetings at Popeye’s and Starbucks while Agent Qaqish narrated what was happening. Because Sammour and Agent Qaqish were speak ing Arabic on the videotapes , the jury followed the conversations by reading transcripts that

were translated into English. Agent Cohen , a special agent in the Service’s C riminal I nvestigation D ivision , explained to the jury how tax fraud works. When the Service receives a tax return, it verifies the filer’s identity by checking his social security number and the first four letters of his last name. If this information match es the information in the Service’s database , then the Service will i ssue a Treasury check to the address

Case: 13-13962 Date Filed: 03/16/2016 Page: 5 of 296 listed on the return

. T he Service does not verify whether the filer lives at that address. A fraudster who has someone’s name and social security number can file
a return on that person’s behalf and change the address so tha t the check comes to him instead

. But t his scheme does not work unless the fraudster file s the fraudulent
return before the victim files her legitimate return , as the Service will issue only one check per person . The government called Alex Giorlando and Angie Huerta Gonzalez to prove
t hat t hey were the same “Alex Giorland” and “Angie H. Gonzales” whose identifications Sammour had given to Agent Qaqish

. Agent Cohen found these individuals after the Service recovered their checks. Both witnesses testified that they spell their names slightly differently than Sammour ’s documents spelled them : Alex Giorlando has an “o” on the end of his last name, and Angie Huerta Gonzalez ha s a “z” instead of an “s” on the end of her last name

. But Alex Giorlando testified t hat the date of birth and social security number for “Alex Giorland” are his actual date of birth and social security number. And Angie Huerta Gonzalez testified that the social security number for “Angie H. Gonzales” is her actual social security number. The witnesses also testified that they had tried to file tax return s but were unsuccessful because someone had already filed returns in their name s .

Case: 13-13962 Date Filed: 03/16/2016 Page: 6 of 297 After the close of all evidence, Sammour filed a motion for a judgment of acquittal. He argued that the government failed to present sufficient evidence that “Alex Giorland” and “Angie H. Gonzales” were actual persons or that Sammour knew they were actual persons

. T he district court denied his motion

. The district court then instructed the jury . Al though the indictment charged Sammour with possessing and transferring “a means of identification of another person, that is, [a] name and Social S ecurity number , ” the jury instruction s identified the relevant “ means of identification ” as “any name, social security number, or date of birth .” (Emphasis added.) Despite this additional wording, Sammour did not object to the jury instructions. While the jury deliberated , the distr ict court received a note from the clerk

. The note came from Juror 9 , who silently slipped it to the clerk while the clerk was passing out lunch menus . We reproduce the note below with the juror’s signature redacted. Case: 13-13962 Date Filed: 03/16/2016 Page: 7 of 298 The district court infor med the parties about the note. Sammour asked for a mistrial , but t he district co urt declined. It instead decided to question Juror 9 outside th e presence of the other jurors. T he district court called Juror 9 back into the courtroom. It first asked her whether she had communicated her fears to any other juror. Juror 9 answered, “I hav e not

. ” The district court asked, “So, this is just you r own personal concern?” Juror 9 responded, “ I’m just paranoid.” The district court again asked her whether she had kept th ese concerns to herself. Juror 9 responded, “Oh, absolutely. Because I didn’t want to sway the rest of the jury.” The district court then sought to allay her concerns . It explained that “there’s no connection to terrorism in this case. There’s no evidence of it. There’s no indication of Al

- Qaeda or terrorism.” “Even if there were a jury protection program,” the district court explained, “this case wouldn’t qualify for it.” The district court asked Juror 9 whether she could “put aside this concern and be fair. ” She answered, “I’ll do what’s fair.” The district
court again asked her wh ether she could put aside her fears “and be a fair juror for both the defendant, the government, just follow the law, and base your verdict on the facts. ” Juror 9 answered, “Yes.” The district court instructed her to return to the jury room. Sammour compla ined that Juror 9 l ooked like she was about to cry, b u t the district court disagr eed. It “didn’t see anything about her looking like she was gonna cry” and it “ believe [d] her when she said that she would be fair.” It

Case: 13-13962 Date Filed: 03/16/2016 Page: 8 of 299 concluded that it had sufficiently “ que lled ” her fears, which she admitted were a product of her own idiosyncratic paranoia

. Shortly afterwards , the jury returned its verdict. It convicted Sammour of both coun ts of aggravated identity theft. Sammour renewed his motion for a judgment of acquitta l, but the district court again denied it. After the trial , the district court sentence d Sammour for the two counts of aggravated identity theft and the eight counts of theft of public money. The sentence for aggravated identity theft was straightforward

. Th e statute required a sentence of 24 months per count, although sentences for multiple counts could run concurrently. 18 U.S.C. § 1028A

. This statutory sentence could not be increased or decreased under the guidelines. See United States Sentencing Guidel ines Manual § 2B1.6 (Nov. 2012) . Accordingly, t he district court imposed concurrent sentence s of 24 months

. The sentence for theft of public money , by contrast, required more detailed calculations . The presentence investigation report recommended a guideline range of 70

– 87 months. It calculated an offense level of 26: the base offense level for theft of public money was 6 , id. § 2B1.1(a)(2) , and the report recommended an increase of 14 levels because the loss to the government was grea ter than $400,000, id. § 2B1.1(b)(1)(H) , an increase of 4 levels because the crime involved more than 50 victims, id. § 2B1.1(b)(2)(B) , and an increase of 2 levels because the

Case: 13-13962 Date Filed: 03/16/2016 Page: 9 of 2910 crime involved the trafficking of an access device , id. § 2B1.1(b)(11) (B)

. T he

r eport calculated a criminal history category of II

. Sammour received 3 criminal history points for a 1995 conviction of federal bank fraud , for which he spent 27 months in prison and five years on supervised release

. Sammour has more than a dozen other convictions that were unscorable either because they were too old or because the sentence s were too short . Those convictions include a 1982 conviction for possess ion of an unregistered handgun; a 1 985 conviction for resisting an office r without viol ence ; 1985 convictions for receiving stolen property a nd possession of criminal tools; 1987 convictions for driving with a suspended license and without a tag; 1988 convictions for aggravated assault, battery, aggravated battery, resisting an officer witho ut violence, and corruption by threat against a public servant; a 1988 conviction for driving with a suspended license; 1991 convictions for forgery, uttering a forged instrument, and receiving stolen property; a 1991 conviction for federal bank fraud; and 2009 convictions for reckless driving and improperly passing a vehicle

. Both parties requested modifications to the presentence investigation report. T he government asked for an upward departure to a higher criminal history category, id. § 4A1.3(a)(1) , which the district court granted

. Based on Sammour’s

numerous unscored convictions, the district court concluded that category II did not sufficiently represent his criminal history. It treated the unscored convictions as

Case: 13-13962 Date Filed: 03/16/2016 Page: 10 of 2911 if they were scorable, which yield ed a total of 11 criminal history points and a criminal history category of V

. Accordingly, t he district court departed upward from criminal history category II to V. Sammour objected to the 2

- level increase for trafficking an access device , and the distri ct court sustained his objection

. Sammour also objected to the 4

- level increase based on the number of victims , but the district court rejected his argument s . Sammour argued that he never “used” anyone’s identification , id. § 2B1.1 cmt. n.4(E) , because he “ mere [ ly ] transfer [ red ]” the identifications to Agent Qaqish, United States v. Hall , 704 F.3d 1317 , 132 3 (11th Cir. 2013)

. The district court disagreed because Sammour’s case involved “much more” than the transfer of identifications

. Indeed, the presentence investigation report explained that “[t]he scheme involved the use of stolen identities, specifically names, social security numbers and dates of birth that are being used to file false income tax returns.” (Emphasis added.) And Sam mo ur never objected to that fact. Sammour also objected to the 4

- level increase for 50+ victims on the ground that the government had failed to prove the identifications belonged to 50 real individuals , but t he district court overruled this objection too

. The entire point of the tax

- fraud scheme was to target real individuals , the district court explain ed

. S ammour had 75 unique Treasury checks in his possession , and Agent Cohen testified that the Service does not issue Treasury checks to “ false, made

- up ” so cial

Case: 13-13962 Date Filed: 03/16/2016 Page: 11 of 2912 security numbers

. Agent Cohen also testified that he spoke to 26 of Sammour’s victims on the phone, another 21 had mailed in affidavits, and the remaining 28 were listed in the Service’s database. Based on this information, the district court conclude d that Sammour’s crimes affected at least 50 real victims

. Finally, t he district court rejected Sammour’s request for a 2

- level decrease based on acceptance of responsibility, U.S.S.G. § 3E1.1(a)

. Sammour argued that he had accepted responsibility by pleading guilty to theft of public money and by apologizing for his actions during the sentencing proceedings. But the district court disagreed. Sammour forced the government to trial on the two counts of
aggra vated identity theft. And he downplayed his culpability dur ing the sentencing proceedings by stating that “somebody just talked me into it.” That statement, the district court found, “really doesn’t sound like someone who’s comp letely accepted responsibili ty

. ” With an offense level of 24 and a criminal history category of V, the final guideline range for the counts of theft of public money was 92

– 115 months

. Although Sammour’s brother testified at the sentencing hearing that Sammour is a good person who had performed charitable works in Haiti , t he district court sentenced him to 115 months of imprisonment, the top of the guideline range. Applying the statutory sentencing factors, 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a), the district court stressed Sammour’s extensive criminal h istory, which involved several violent

Case: 13-13962 Date Filed: 03/16/2016 Page: 12 of 2913 crimes as well as property crimes that resembled his current offenses

. The district
court concluded that a sentence of 115 months was needed to “promote[] respect for the law” and to provide “an adequate deterrent.” It stated that it would have imposed this sentence “irrespective of h ow the guidelines were scored.” II. STANDARD S OF REVIEW Several standards of review govern the issues on appeal. We review the sufficiency of the evidence de novo

. United States v. Hernan dez , 433 F.3d 1328, 1332 (11th Cir. 2005) . We also review de novo whether the jury instruction s constructively amended the indictment, United States v. Gutierrez , 745 F.3d 463, 473 (11th Cir. 2014) , but when a defendant raises this argument for the first t ime on appeal , we review it for plain error , United States v. Madden , 733 F.3d 1314, 1322 (11th Cir. 2013)

. We review the procedures used to address juror misconduct for abuse of discretion , and we review a finding that a juror was not biased for clear error. See United States v. Dominguez , 226 F.3d 1235, 1247 (11th Cir. 2000)

. Finally, we review sentence s for abuse of discretion, see United States v. Wetherald , 636 F.3d 1315, 1320 (11th Cir. 2011) , al though we review the application of the guidelines de novo and findings of fact for clear error, United States v. Barrington , 648 F.3d 1178, 1194

– 95 (11th Cir. 2011).

Case: 13-13962 Date Filed: 03/16/2016 Page: 13 of 2914 III. DISCUSSION Sammour raises seven issues on appeal. Three pertain to his trial, and four to his sentence. We address the trial issues first and the sentencing issues second. A. Trial Issues Sammour argues that we should vacate his convictions of aggravated identity theft because the district court made three errors at trial . First, he contends that the district court wrongly denied his motion for a judgment of acquittal based

on the in sufficiency of the evidence . Second, he argues that the district court issued a jury instruction that constructively amended the indictment . Third, he contends that the district court abused its discretion in dealing with Juror 9

. We discuss, and reject, these argument s in turn. 1. Sufficient Evidence Supports the Convictions of Aggravated Identity Theft. Sammour argues that he cannot be convicted of aggravated identity theft because the government failed to prove that the identifications belonged to real
persons or that Sammour knew they belonged to real persons . T he government must prove both elements bey ond a reasonable doubt. See Flores

- Figueroa v. United States , 556 U.S. 646, 647 (2009). But w e must affirm the jury’s verdict if

“ any rational trier of fact could have found the [se] essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt.” Musacchio v. U nited States , 136 S. Ct. 709, 715 ( 2016) (quoting Jackson v. Virginia , 443 U.S. 307, 319 (1979))

. “ [W]e view the

Case: 13-13962 Date Filed: 03/16/2016 Page: 14 of 2915 evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution and draw all reasonable inferences and credibility choices in favor of the jury verdict .” United States v. Joseph , 709 F.3d 1082, 1093 (11th Cir. 2013) . Sammour cannot clear this high hurdle. A rational jury could have found, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the identifications belonged to real persons . Agent Cohen testified that the Service does not issue a Treasury check for a tax return without a valid social security number. And he determined that the social security number s Sammour transferred to Agent Qaqish belonged, in fact, to Alex Giorlando and Angie Huerta Gonzalez

. Alex Giorlando testified that the date of birth and social security number for “Alex Giorland” were his date of birth and social security number, and Angie Gonzalez testified that the social security number for “Angie H. Gonzales” wa s her social security number. The probability that someone made up the names “Alex Giorland” and “Angie H. Gonzales” and randomly assign ed them the actual social security numbers of Alex Giorlando and Angie Huerta Gonzalez is zero. Sammour argues that the names on the identifications are misspelled, but the misspelling s are suspicious too

. Agent Cohen testified that the Service verifies only the first four letters of a filer’s last name. Someone who understood this process could slightly misspell the filer’ s name

— here, o nly the last let ter s of “Giorlando” and “Gonzalez ” are misspelled

— and avoid detection by the Service while maintain ing

Case: 13-13962 Date Filed: 03/16/2016 Page: 15 of 2916 plausible deniability. Unfortunately for Sammour, his deniability is not plausible

. A rational jury easily could have found that the stolen identifications for “Alex Giorland” and “Angie H. Gonzales ” belong ed to real persons . A rational jury also could have found, beyond a reasonable doubt, that Sammour knew the stolen identifications belonged to real persons . The videotaped

m eetings with Agent Qaqish revealed that Sammour had a sophisticated underst anding of the tax

- fraud scheme . He explained that his cohorts “pick” their victims “carefully” and target people who “wouldn’t have filed tax returns.” He also explained that “ we wa it to make sure that whoever is gonna file has filed” before attempting to file a fraudulent return

. Sammour understood the scheme well enough to boast to Agent Qaqish that he was “a hundred percent sure” the Treasury checks were valid. Viewing this eviden ce in the light most favorable to the government , a rational jury could have found that Sammour knew the identifications he gave to Agent Qaqish belonged to real persons . Using stolen identities was the central feature of the scheme. 2. The Jury Instructions Did Not Plainly Amend the Indictment. Sammour con tends that the jury instruction s constructively amend ed the indictment in violation of the Fifth Amendment

. “ A constructive amendment

‘ occurs when the essential elements of the offense contained in the indic tment are altered to broaden the possible bases for conviction beyond what is contained in

Case: 13-13962 Date Filed: 03/16/2016 Page: 16 of 2917 the indictment. ’ ” Madden , 733 F.3d at 1318 (quoting United States v. Keller , 916 F.2d 628, 634 (11th Cir. 1990) )

. Sammour argues that the jury instructions
construct ively amended the indictment by adding a n additional means of identification ( “date of birth” ) to the means listed in the indictment (“name and social security number”)

. Sammour concedes that he did not raise this argument in the district court and that we review it for plain error

. Sammour’s concession that he has raised this issue for the first time on appeal is wise , but fatal

. “[T]here can be no plain error where there is no precedent from the Supreme Court or this Court directly resolving [an issue]

. ” United States v. Cavallo , 790 F.3d 1202, 1234 (11th Cir. 2015) (second alteration in original) (quoting United States v. Lejarde

- Rada , 319 F.3d 1288, 1291 (11th Cir. 2003))

. Sammour cannot identify a ny precedent establishing that a constructive amendment o ccurs in th is circumstance

. Neither this Court nor the Supreme Court has ever held that a jury instruction for aggravated identity theft constructively amends the indictment when it lists an additional means of identification

. Sammour cites no such decisio n , and

we cannot find one

. In United States v. Narog , we held that a jury instruction for possession of a controlled substance constructively amended the indictment when it changed “methamphetamine” to “ some controlled substance

. ” 372 F.3d 1243, 1247

– 49 (11th Cir. 2004) ( citing United States v. Weissman , 899 F.2d 1111 (11th

Case: 13-13962 Date Filed: 03/16/2016 Page: 17 of 2918 Cir. 1990)) . But Narog does not plainly extend to other crime s or circumstances

. See United States v. Dortch , 696 F.3d 1104, 1112

– 14 (11th Cir. 2012) (concluding that a jury instruction for felon in possession of a firearm did not plainly amend the indictment when it changed “a Taurus

. . . pistol and an Arminius revolver ” to “ a firearm ” ). In United States v. Baldwin , we sugges ted that , under Narog , a constructive amendment would “potentially” occur if a jury instruction for aggravated identity theft “allow [ ed ] a conviction based on the use of a different means of identification ” from the o ne listed in the indictment

. 774 F.3d 711, 725 (11th Cir. 2014 ) . B ut that equivocal dictum cannot establish “plain” error. United States v. Lett , 483 F. 3d 782, 790 (11th Cir. 2007); accord United States v. Whren , 111 F.3d 956, 960

– 61 (D.C. Cir. 1997) (“[I]t is not a plain error for a trial court not to follow a mere dictum of the court of appeals. ”)

. S ome of our sister circuits draw a distinction between a jury instruction that changes an element of the crime and a jury instruction that merely changes a means of satisfying an element of the crime

. See, e.g. , United States v. D’ Amelio , 683 F.3d 412, 422 (2d Cir. 2012)

. “ D ate of birth” is not an element of aggravated identity theft; it is a means of satisfying the “means of identification” element. A ltering a means does not constructively amend the indictment , accordin g to our sister circuits , because it does not alter an “essential element” of the crime such that “the defendant may have been convicted of an offense other than that charged in the indictment.” United States v. Robison ,

Case: 13-13962 Date Filed: 03/16/2016 Page: 18 of 2919 904 F.2d 365, 369 (6th Cir. 1990) ( quoting United States v. Ford , 872 F.2d 1231, 1236 (6th Cir. 1989)) ; accord United States v. Patino , 9 62 F.2d 263, 266 (2d Cir. 1992)

. Because the law in this Circuit is unsettled and other courts have rejected Sammour’s argument , we cannot say that the district court plainly erred

. See Dortch , 696 F.3d at 1112

. 3. The District Court Did Not Abuse Its Discretion i n Responding to the Note from Juror 9

. Sammour argues that the district court abused its discretion by allowing Juror 9 to remain on the jury even after her note expressed concerns that Sammour

was affiliated with al Qaeda

. T h e district court allowed Juror 9 to remain on the jury after questioning her outside the presence of the other jurors and finding that she w ould be fair and impartial. Sammour contends that Juror 9 could not be impartial and that the district court should have either dismissed her, declared a mistrial, or warned her not to share her fears with the other jurors

. T o prevail, Sammour must establish, based on a cold record, that the district court abused its broad discretion despite its superior vantage point : The most salient aspect of the law in this area is the breadth of discretion given to judges who are called upon to deal with the possibility of juror misconduct. Dis trict court judges deal with jurors on a regular basis, and those judges are in the trenches when problems arise. The problems that present themselves are seldom clearly defined and a number of variables have to be considered. There are often no obviously right or wrong answers to the questions that arise.

. . . . [T]he district court is in a better position to evaluate credibility, as well as “the mood at trial and the predilections of the jury.” Case: 13-13962 Date Filed: 03/16/2016 Page: 19 of 2920 Dominguez , 226 F.3d at 1246

– 47 (citation omitted) (quoting U nited States v. Harris , 908 F.2d 728, 734 (11th Cir. 1990))

. W hen a district court finds that a juror is not biased, our “def erence . . . is at its pinnacle.” Skilling v. United States , 561 U.S. 358, 396 (2010)

. “[T]he determination is essentially one of credibility, and therefore largely one of demeanor ,” Yount , 467 U.S. at 1038, and “[i] t is here that the [ reviewing ] court’ s deference must operate , ” id. at 10 40

. A ccord Chiantese , 582 F.2d at 980

. Sammour comes nowhere near satisfying this standard. The d istrict court did not cle arly err in finding that Juror 9 could be fair and impartial. After hearing her answers to its questions, the district court “believe[d] her when she said that she would be fair.” Sammour argues that Juror 9 was hesitant and looked like she might cry, but the district court disagreed. We have no basis to overturn its finding: the “cold record” does not reveal the inflections in Juror 9’s voice or her demeanor as she answered the questions. Yount , 467 U.S. at 1040. Furthermore, the d istrict court took measures to allay Juror 9’s fears by explaining that the case had nothing to do with terrorism and that her life was not in any danger. It reasonably found that this discussion “quelled ” her concerns, especially because her concerns did not appear to be that serious to begin with. A s soon as the district court started questioning her , Juror 9 confessed that she is “just paranoid.” And Juror 9 proved she was sensitive to the need to remain fair and impartial. She silently slipped her note to the clerk so that the other jurors would

Case: 13-13962 Date Filed: 03/16/2016 Page: 20 of 2921 not notice, and she did not share her fears with the other jurors because she “didn’t want to sway [the m]

. ” W hen questioned, she confirmed that she would “do what’s fair” in Sammour’s ca se. The district court found her credible , and nothing in the record suggests that its finding was clearly erroneous

. Because the district court did not clearly err in finding that Juror 9 was unbiased, it did not abuse its discretion by refusing to declare a mistrial or dismiss her from the jury

. Nor did it need to remind Juror 9 not to share her fears with the other jurors. The whole tenor of its questioning informed Juror 9 that she should keep her concerns to herself , and Juro r 9 acknowledged that she understood why when she said she “didn’t want to sway the rest of the jury

. ” T he district court did
not abuse its discretion by failing to remind Juror 9 of something she already knew. Sammour speculates that the other jurors may have harbored fears similar to those of Juror 9 , b ut a defendant alleging juror bias “must do more than speculate

. ” United States v. Cuthel , 903 F.2d 1381, 1383 (11th Cir. 1990)

. Sammour never challenged any other juror in the district court, which is “ strong evidence t hat he was convinced [ the y] were not biased. ” Skilling , 561 U.S. at 396 (quoting Beck v. Washington , 369 U.S. 541, 558 ( 1962) )

. He argues that the district court should have questioned the other jurors individually to make sure they did not have fears about al Qaeda

. But such an approach c ould have backfired by raising concerns in the minds of the jurors that were not there before

. See United States v. Register ,

Case: 13-13962 Date Filed: 03/16/2016 Page: 21 of 2922 182 F.3d 820, 841 (11th Cir. 1999)

. In sum , we cannot say that t he district court abuse d its considerable discretion in responding to the note from Juror 9

. B. Sentencing Issues Although Sammour raises arguments about his sentence of 24 months for aggravated identity theft, those arguments are frivolous. The district court imposed the statutory sentence for those counts, as it was required to do. See 18 U.S.C. § 1028A; U.S.S.G. § 2B1.6

. No error occurred. As for theft of public money, Sammour challenges his sentence of 115 months on four grounds. First, he arg ues that the district court should not have applied the 4

- level enhancement for 50+ victims. Second, he contends that the district court should have applied the 2

- level adjustment for acceptance of responsibility. Third, Sammour contends that the district court should not have departed upward from criminal history category II to V. Fourth, he argues that a sentence of 115 months is substantively unreasonable. We address these arguments in order

. None is meritorious. 1. The District Court Did Not Abuse Its Disc retion When It Applied the Enhancement for 50+ Victims

. Sammour argues that the district court should not have increased his offense level based on the number of victims. The 2012 guidelines instruct district court s
to increase the offense level for theft of public money by 4 i f the offense “ involved 50 or more victims.” U.S.S.G. § 2B1.1(b)(2)(B). A “victim ” of theft of public

Case: 13-13962 Date Filed: 03/16/2016 Page: 22 of 2923 money include s “ any individual whose means of identi fication was used unlawfully or without authority. ” Id. § 2B1.1 cmt. n. 4(E). The word “used” means the “ employment of something

. . . for the purpose for which it is adapted , ” Hall , 704 F.3d at 1322 (alteration in original) (quoting Black’s Law Dictionary 1681 (9th ed. 2009)) ; it does not include the “mere transfer

. . . without mo re , ” id. Moreover, the identifications must belong to “ actual ( i.e. , not fictitious) ” individuals

. U.S.S.G. § 2B1.1 cmt. n.1. Sammour argues that his victims are not “victims” under the guidelines because he merely transferred the ir identifications to Agent Qaqish

. He also argues that the government failed to prove that the identifications belonged to 50 real individuals . We reject both arguments. Sammour’s victims qualify as “victims” under the guidelines because,

a lthough Agent Qaqish never “ used ” the ir identifications to cash the Treasury checks, Sammour’s cohorts “ used ” their identifications to obtain the Treasury checks in the first place. Cf. Hall , 704 F.3d at 1322 (explaining that a defendant “used” identifications when her conspirators applied for and obtained credit cards with the identifying information). Under the guidelines, Sammour is responsible for all “relevant conduct,” including the “reasonably foreseeable acts” of his cohorts that occurred “in furtherance of” the tax

- fraud sc heme and “in preparation for” his crimes

. U.S .S.G. § 1B1.3

. He is responsible for that conduct even though he was never charged with a conspiracy, id. , so long as the government can prove

Case: 13-13962 Date Filed: 03/16/2016 Page: 23 of 2924 it by a preponderance of the evidence , see United States v. Faust , 456 F.3d 1342, 1347 (11th Cir. 2006)

. And it did so here

. Sammour explained the entire scheme to Agent Qaqish on the video tapes

. Moreover , the presentence investigation report stated that “ [t]he scheme involved the use of stolen identities, specifically na mes, social security numbers and dates of birth tha t are being used to file false income
tax returns , ” ( emphasis added ) , and Sammour admitted this fact by never o bjecting to it , see United States v. Beckles , 565 F.3d 832, 844 (11th Cir. 2009)

. Because Sammour’s cohorts indisputably used the identifications to procure the Treasury checks , Sammour’s victims count as “ victims ” under the guidelines

. T he government also proved, by a preponderance of the evidence, that the identificati ons belonged to 50 real individuals

. For starters, the Internal Revenue Service issued 75 Treasury checks, and Agent Cohen testified that the Service does not issue a tax refund without a valid social security number

. This fact alone
proves that Sammour’s victims were real individuals

. See United States v. Philidor , 717 F.3d 883, 886 (11th Cir. 2013)

. Moreover, Agent Cohen heard from 4 7 of the victims . T he district court reasonably extrapolated that at least three of the remaining victims , all of whom appeared in the S ervice’s database, would have been verified too if they had current phone numbers . Indeed, targeting real victims was the entire point of the scheme. The district court did not clearly err in finding that Sammour had at least 50 victims

.

Case: 13-13962 Date Filed: 03/16/2016 Page: 24 of 2925 2. The District Court Did Not Abuse Its Discretion When It Denied an Adjustment for Acceptance of Responsibility. According to Sammour, the district court should have granted an adjustment for acceptance of responsibility. Under the guidelines, a district court should decrease the offense level by 2 if the defendant “clearly demonstrates acceptance of responsibility for his offense

. ” U.S.S.G. § 3E1.1 (a)

. Sammour contends that he accepted responsibility by pleading guilty to the counts of theft of public money and by apologizing for his actions during the sentencing proceedings

. But his arguments do not overcome the “great deference” we owe the district court due to its “ unique p osition to evaluate a defendant’ s acceptance of responsibility .” Unite d States v. Chukwura , 5 F.3d 1420, 1424 (11th Cir. 1993) (citing U.S.S.G. § 3E1.1 cmt. n.5 )

. The district court did not clearly err when it found that Sammour had not accepted responsibility. Sammour apologized for his actions during the sentencing proceed ings , but his belated apology was entitled to little weight. See U.S.S.G. § 3E1.1 cmt. n.1 (H); United States v. Jones , 899 F.2d 1097, 1101 (11th Cir. 1990) , overruled in part on other grounds by United States v. Morrill , 984 F.2d 1136 (11th Cir. 1993) (en banc)

. And even though Sammour pleaded guilty to the counts of theft of public money, a guilty plea “may be outweighed by conduct of the defendant that is inconsistent with such acceptance of responsibility.” U.S.S.G. § 3E1.1 cmt. n.3

. F or example, Sa mmour continued to downplay his culpability at

Case: 13-13962 Date Filed: 03/16/2016 Page: 25 of 2926 the sentencing proceedings by stating that someone had “talked me into it.” Such
statements are inconsistent with accepting responsibility

. S ee United States v. Caraballo , 595 F.3d 1214, 1233 (11th Cir. 2010)

. Sammour also “frivolously contest[ed] relevant conduct ” by forcing the government to go to trial on the two counts of aggravated identity theft. U.S.S.G. § 3E1.1 cmt. n.1(A). Throughout this litigation, Sammour has denied that his victims are real persons and that he knew they were real persons

— despite being caught on camera stating precisely the opposite

. His denials are “inconsistent with acceptance of responsibility,” id. , and outweigh his guilty plea to the counts of theft of public money , id. § 3E1.1 cmt. n.3. See United States v. Williams , 408 F.3d 745, 756

– 57 (11th Cir. 2005); United States v. Lewis , 115 F.3d 1531, 1537 (11th Cir. 1997)

. Because Sammour has not clearly accepted responsibility, the district court did not abuse its discretion by denyin g the 2

- level adjustment. 3. The District Court Did Not Abuse Its Discretion When It Departed Upward to a Higher Criminal History Category. Sammour contends that the district court abused its discretion when it increased his criminal history category from II to V

. A district court can depart upward to a higher criminal history category if the lower category “ substantially underrepresents the seriousness of the defendant’s criminal history or the likelihood that the defendant will commit other crimes.” U.S.S.G . § 4A1.3(a)(1)

. In making this determination, the district court can rely on “[p] rior sentence(s) not

Case: 13-13962 Date Filed: 03/16/2016 Page: 26 of 2927 used in computing the criminal history category .” Id. § 4A1.3(a)(2)(A). Sammour argues that the district court used the wrong methodology wh en it departe d upward to category V . He also contends that category V is too high because his past crimes

are low

- level and old. Both arguments fail. The district court used a valid method when it departed upward. A district
court may apply an upward departure using th e following “step

- by

- step procedure”: [T]he court must look first to the next criminal history category. If that category ad equately reflects the defendant’ s past conduct, then the court must state its findings and sentence the defendant within the range f or the new category. “If, on the other hand, the court decides that this new category is still inad equate to reflect the defendant’ s criminal history, the court must look to the next highest category and repeat its inquiry.” United States v. Williams , 989 F.2d 1137, 1142 (11th Cir. 1993) (citations omitted) (quoting United States v. Johnson , 934 F.2d 1237, 1239

– 40 (11th Cir. 1991)). But a district court may also, alternatively, assign criminal history points to the unscored convictions and extrapolate the criminal history category that would have applied

. See United States v. Maurice , 69 F.3d 1553, 1559 (11th Cir. 1995)

. T he district court followed this alternative

— and equally valid

— approach and explained its calculations

. Sammour does not argue that any of its calculations

were erroneous.

Case: 13-13962 Date Filed: 03/16/2016 Page: 27 of 2928 T he nature of Sammour’s criminal history warranted an upward departure to category V. Sammour argues that many of his past crimes are low

- level and old, but the record proves otherwise. Sammour’s history reflects a life of crime consisting of numerous convictions for various offenses over the course of four decades

. Several of those convictions were for violent crimes. And several more involved fraud

- based crimes similar to the ones Sammour committed here. We have affirmed large upward departures in similar c ircumstances

. See, e.g. , United States v. McKinley , 732 F.3d 1291, 1298 (11th Cir. 2013) ; United States v. Jones , 289 F.3d 1260, 1267 (11th Cir. 2002)

. T he district court did not abuse its discretion in doing so here

. 4. The Sentence Is Substantively Reasonable. Sammour ’s last argument is that his sentence is substantively unreasonable

. The district court concluded that 115 months of imprisonment was an appropriate
sentence for the eight counts of theft of public money due to Sammour’s extensive criminal history . Sammour contends that the district court did not sufficiently account for other factors like his charitable works

. But “[t] he weight given to any specific § 3553(a) factor is comm itted to the sound d iscretion of the district court,” United States v. Johnson , 803 F.3d 610, 618 (11th Cir. 2015) , and Sammour cannot
prove an abuse of discretion

.

Case: 13-13962 Date Filed: 03/16/2016 Page: 28 of 2929 Sammour’s sentence of 115 months is substantively reasonable. It is within the guideline ra nge, and we ordinarily expect such sentence s to be reasonable. See United States v. Hunt , 526 F.3d 739, 746 (11th Cir. 2008) . When “ both the sentencing judge and the Sentencing Commission

. . . reached the same conclusion as to the proper sentence in the particular case ,” it “ significantly increases the likelihood that the sentence is a reasonable one. ” Rita v. United States , 551 U.S. 338, 347 (2007)

. And a sentence of 115 months is far lower than the statutory maximum sentence of 80 years , s ee 18 U.S.C. § 641 , which further supports its reasonableness , s ee McKinley , 732 F.3d at 1299

. Moreover , the district court did not abuse its discretion in weighing Sammour’s extensive criminal history more heavily than the other factors. See United States v. Osorio

- Moreno , No. 14

- 14447, slip op. 1, 10

– 12 (11th Cir. Mar. 1, 2016) ; United States v. Rosales

- Bruno , 789 F.3d 1249, 1263 (11th Cir. 2015)

. Despite Sammour’s charitable works, the district
court reasonably concluded t hat he needed a sentence at the top of the guideline
range to “promote respect for the law” and “afford adequate deterrence,” 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a)(2)(A)

– (B)

. See United States v. Snipes , 611 F.3d 855, 872

– 73 (11th Cir. 2010)

. This Court “will not reweigh the factors.” Johnson , 803 F.3d at 620

. IV. CONCLUSION We AFFIRM Sammour’s convictions and sentence. Case: 13-13962 Date Filed: 03/16/2016 Page: 29 of 29