Opinion ID: 195128
Heading Depth: 5
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Factual Grounds for Departure.

Text: 17 Were we called upon to do so, we would review the sentencing court's findings of fact for clear error, Rivera, 994 F.2d at 950, but Fahm challenges neither the reliability of the criminal history evidence nor the factual findings on which the departure decision was based. 3 18 Nor can we fault the district court's judgment call, see United States v. DiazVillafane, 874 F.2d 43, 49-50 (1st Cir.), cert. denied, 493 U.S. 862, 110 S.Ct. 177, 107 L.Ed.2d 133 (1989), that Fahm's criminal history warranted an upward departure pursuant to U.S.S.G. Sec. 4A1.3(d), (e), a ruling we review with the considerable deference due the sentencing court's special competence and superior feel in the circumstances of the particular case, Ramirez, 11 F.3d at 13; Rivera, 994 F.2d at 951-52. In far less egregious circumstances we have sustained an upward departure where the offenses of conviction were committed while the defendant was awaiting final disposition of similar state charge. See Calderon, 935 F.2d at 12. Fahm committed these offenses while awaiting disposition of similar Massachusetts charges (larceny of an automobile and obtaining property under false pretenses) which had yet to result in conviction. See U.S.S.G. Sec. 4A1.3(e). Furthermore, while awaiting sentencing on the instant offenses, he committed a similar credit-fraud felony in Delaware. See United States v. Moore, 931 F.2d 3, 4 (1st Cir.1991) (offenses involving the same sort of dishonesty and misappropriation of other people's property are similar ). Thus, the district court reasonably concluded that CHC II under-represented Fahm's actual criminal history, a finding well supported, inter alia, by the similar credit-fraud related charges committed within two years of the instant offenses, evidencing a serious pattern of recidivism not reflected in the conventional CHC calculation under U.S.S.G. Secs. 4A1.1 and 4A1.2. See Figaro, 935 F.2d at 7 (the recency of a prior offense may be considered an indicator of increased likelihood of recidivism, exacerbating the seriousness of a defendant's criminal history.); United States v. Aymelek, 926 F.2d 64, 70 (1st Cir.1991). 19