UNPUBLISHED

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

Plaintiff-Appellee,

v. No. 98-4515

BAYAN EL-DADA,

Defendant-Appellant.

Appeal from the United States District Court

for the District of South Carolina, at Columbia.

Joseph F. Anderson, Jr., District Judge.

(CR-97-680)

Submitted: November 24, 1998

Decided: December 17, 1998

Before WILKINS and NIEMEYER, Circuit Judges, and

HALL, Senior Circuit Judge.

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Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

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COUNSEL

John H. Hare, Assistant Federal Public Defender, Columbia, South

Carolina, for Appellant. Eric William Ruschky, Assistant United

States Attorney, Columbia, South Carolina, for Appellee.

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Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit. See

Local Rule 36(c).
OPINION

PER CURIAM:

Bayan El-Dada appeals from his conviction and four months' sentence for devising a scheme and artifice to defraud and for obtaining

money by means of false and fraudulent pretenses, representations,

and promises in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1343 (1994). El-Dada's

attorney has filed a brief in accordance with Anders v. California, 386

U.S. 738 (1967), addressing whether the district court complied with

the requirements of Fed. R. Crim. P. 11 in accepting El-Dada's guilty

plea and whether the court properly imposed El-Dada's sentence

under the Sentencing Guidelines.* Counsel asserts that there are no

meritorious issues for appeal. El-Dada was notified of his right to file

an additional brief, but has not done so. We affirm.

El-Dada contends that the district court improperly conducted the

Rule 11 hearing in accepting his guilty plea. In reviewing the adequacy of compliance with Rule 11, this court accords great deference

to the trial court's decision as to how best to conduct the mandated

colloquy with the defendant. See United States v. DeFusco, 949 F.2d

114, 116 (4th Cir. 1991). Rule 11 violations are evaluated under the

harmless error standard. Id. at 117. This court may vacate a conviction resulting from a guilty plea only if the trial court's violations of

Rule 11 affected the defendant's substantial rights. Id.

Our review of the record discloses that the district court sufficiently

complied with Rule 11 in informing El-Dada of his rights and in

ascertaining the voluntariness of his plea. We find that because ElDada's substantial rights were not in any way compromised, any

alleged error during the Rule 11 colloquy was harmless.

El-Dada also maintains that the court derived his sentence either in

violation of the law or through an inaccurate computation pursuant to

the Guidelines. However, El-Dada's failure to object during sentencing amounts to a waiver of his right to raise that issue on appeal

absent plain error. See United States v. Ford , 88 F.3d 1350, 1355-56

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*U.S. Sentencing Guidelines Manual (1997).

 2
(4th Cir.), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 65 U.S.L.W. 3369 (U.S. Nov.

18, 1996) (No. 96-6379). We find no plain error in the record warranting review of El-Dada's sentence.

In accordance with Anders, we have examined the entire record in

this case and find no reversible error. We therefore affirm the conviction and sentence. This court requires that counsel inform his client,

in writing, of his right to petition the Supreme Court of the United

States for further review. If the client requests that a petition be filed,

but counsel believes that such a petition would be frivolous, then

counsel may move in this court for leave to withdraw from representation. Counsel's motion must state that a copy thereof was served on

the client. We dispense with oral argument because the facts and legal

contentions are adequately presented in the materials before the court,

and oral argument would not aid the decisional process.

AFFIRMED

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