Opinion ID: 760199
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Did The District Court Err In Calculating The Amount Of

Text: 67 Loss That Resulted From Wells' Conduct? 68 Wells claims that the district court erred in calculating the amount of loss, thereby increasing his sentence by 15 levels. Specifically, he claims that the court should not have included in its calculation warrants that were in sealed envelopes but never mailed to the addressee. If these warrants are excluded from calculation, he argues, the amount of loss drops below $10 million, which is the threshold amount for the 15 level increase. See U.S. SENTENCING GUIDELINES MANUAL § 2F1.1(b)(1)(P). 69 The dispute over the scope of calculable material--i.e., the meaning of intended loss under the Guidelines--is a legal one which must be reviewed de novo. See United States v. Loayza, 107 F.3d 257, 265 (4th Cir.1997) (citation omitted). However, the amount of loss is a factual determination that is reviewable for clear error. Id. 70 The Commentary to the Guidelines states that if an intended loss that the defendant was attempting to inflict can be determined, this figure will be used if it is greater than the actual loss. U.S. SENTENCING GUIDELINES MANUAL § 2F1.1, cmt. n. 2 (1994). Wells' argument is that the fact that the warrants were not mailed creates doubt as to his intent to cause loss, even if the fraudulent documents are addressed, sealed and stamped. 71 The Fourth Circuit has not addressed this exact issue. Both parties cite United States v. Chappell, 6 F.3d 1095 (5th Cir.1993), cert.denied, 510 U.S. 1183, 114 S.Ct. 1232, 127 L.Ed.2d 576 (1994), as giving some guidance to the issue, with Wells attempting to distinguish it from his case. In Chappell, the defendant was involved in a counterfeit check scheme. Id. at 1097. The district court based Chappell's sentence on, inter alia, five completed checks seized from the defendant's car, 16 other completed checks from which the dollar amounts were determined with some diligence, and 51 blank checks for which the dollar amounts were estimated based on previously recovered checks. Id. at 1101. The Fifth Circuit affirmed the district court's use of the checks that had not yet been cashed, reasoning that it was not clearly erroneous to find that the defendant intended to cause loss with regard to those instruments. Id. 72 Wells has attempted to distinguish Chappell on the ground that the defendants in Chappell possessed a detailed plan to distribute the checks. Id. Moreover, the appellate court determined that the district court calculation of the loss was conservative. Id. By contrast, Wells argues, he did not possess any detailed plan to distribute the undistributed warrants in a fraudulent manner, nor was the court's $17.4 million estimate conservative. 73 However, Wells' argument is not convincing. As established above, Wells had ample reason to question the validity of the warrants, even if he was not actually told that they were invalid. In addition, he appeared to have a detailed way of distributing the warrants through third parties, as discussed above. Finally, unlike the defendants in Chappell, no estimates or conjecture are needed because the warrants in Wells' possession were completed. Thus, the amount of loss would not have been speculative. Because Wells cannot distinguish Chappell, the one case to address a similar issue, his intended loss calculation should include the checks found in his possession. 74 The district court correctly included those amounts on the face of the warrants that Wells had sealed and addressed, but not mailed, and its determination that the amount is over $10 million is not clearly erroneous. The Guidelines state that the intended loss figure may be used if it: (1) can be determined and (2) is greater than the actual loss. See U.S. SENTENCING GUIDELINES MANUAL § 2F1.1, cmt. n. 2 (1994). Here, the intended loss figures can be determined by the face values of the warrants. As over $10 million in warrants were either completed and mailed or were signed and sealed by Wells directly or by others (such as Patel) at his direction, a 15-level increase in the sentence is appropriate. 5