UNPUBLISHED

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 

Plaintiff-Appellee,

v.  No. 00-4886

VANESSA BISE,

Defendant-Appellant. 

Appeal from the United States District Court

for the Western District of Virginia, at Abingdon.

James P. Jones, District Judge.

(CR-99-72)

Submitted: July 12, 2001

Decided: July 23, 2001

Before NIEMEYER, WILLIAMS, and MOTZ, Circuit Judges.

Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion. 

COUNSEL

Daniel R. Bieger, COPELAND, MOLINARY & BIEGER, P.C.,

Abingdon, Virginia, for Appellant. Robert P. Crouch, Jr., United

States Attorney, Eric M. Hurt, Assistant United States Attorney,

Abingdon, Virginia, for Appellee.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit. See

Local Rule 36(c). 
OPINION

PER CURIAM: 

Vanessa Bise seeks to appeal the sentence imposed on her after a

jury convicted her of two counts of embezzlement by a bank

employee, in violation of 18 U.S.C.A. § 656 (West 2000), and one

count of making false bank entries, in violation of 18 U.S.C.A. § 1005

(West 2000). We affirm. 

Bise contends that the district court erred in attributing to her for

sentencing purposes $31,649 that was missing from the mutilated currency vault of the bank where she was employed. As a sentencing factor, the amount of loss attributable to a defendant need only be proven

by a preponderance of the evidence.* United States v. Davis, 184

F.3d 366, 368 (4th Cir. 1999). The district court’s determination that

a defendant is responsible for a certain amount of loss is a factual

determination and will not be disturbed unless clearly erroneous.

United States v. White, 875 F.2d 427, 430-31 (4th Cir. 1989). 

Bise was the head teller, and the evidence showed that she was

responsible for keeping track of the mutilated currency. Evidence was

also introduced to show that Bise had prevented an audit of the mutilated currency vault. Bise was absent from the bank when the discovery was made that money was missing from the vault. Although

during the investigation Bise only admitted to taking approximately

$13,000, an amount that corresponds roughly with the amount missing from her teller drawer, she also told the investigating agent that

there "may have been other times that [she] took money." (J.A. 450).

Based on these facts, we find that the district court did not clearly err

when it determined that it was more likely than not that Bise took the

*On appeal, Bise does not contest her convictions. In count one, the

jury found beyond a reasonable doubt that Bise embezzled not less than

$13,000 from her teller drawer. In count two, the jury found beyond a

reasonable doubt that Bise embezzled not less than $25,000 from the

mutilated currency vault. It is the attribution of $31,649 under count two

for sentencing purposes that Bise challenges in this appeal. Notably, she

contests the entire amount, not just the $6649 above the $25,000 minimum for which she was convicted. 

2 UNITED STATES v. BISE
money that was missing not only from her teller drawer but also from

the mutilated currency vault. 

Accordingly, we affirm Bise’s sentence. We dispense with oral

argument because the facts and legal contentions are adequately represented in the materials before the court and argument would not aid

the decisional process.

AFFIRMED

UNITED STATES v. BISE 3