Opinion ID: 71480
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: The Aggregate Limit of Stolen Credit Cards

Text: Under the rule of Wimbish, a sentencing court may find that a defendant intended to inflict a loss of the face value of property that was recklessly jeopardized by his crime. Wimbish, 980 F.2d at 315-16. We have consistently held that one way a defendant may jeopardize property is by transferring it to a third party whom he does not control. Morrow, 177 F.3d at 300-01. We have also held that credit cards constitute a form of property that can be recklessly jeopardized in this way. Sowels, 998 F.2d at 251; United States v. Mordi, No. 92-1675, 1993 WL 152261, at -4 (5th Cir. Apr. 21, 1993) (per curiam). Therefore, in cases where a defendant recklessly jeopardizes the full credit limit of a card by transferring it to a third party whom he does not control, the sentencing court may reasonably find that his intended loss was equal to the limit of that card. See Sowels, 998 F.2d at 251; Mordi, 1993 WL 152261, at . Although it is possible for a defendant to rebut the inference that he intended to charge a card to its limit by introducing evidence of a contrary modus operandi, this will be difficult to accomplish, so as to render clearly erroneous a contrary district court finding, if there is no evidence that his offense was complete at the time the defendant was stopped by the authorities. See Sowels, 998 F.2d at 251-52.