Opinion ID: 544723
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Method of calculating loss under the guidelines

Text: 6 Relying on U.S.S.G. Sec. 2F1.1 and the presentence report, the district court concluded that Johnson's offense level was to be determined by the total amount of the two bank loans. See Sentencing Hearing Transcript at 11. Pursuant to section 2F1.1(a) of the guidelines, the base offense level is six for offenses involving fraud or deceit. Section 2F1.1(b)(1) provides that the court must increase a defendant's offense level based on the amount of dollar loss exceeding $2,000 which resulted from the defendant's fraudulent scheme. Johnson argues that the dollar loss in her case was far less than the court's valuation of loss. Johnson asserts that the banks were secured creditors and both Mazdas were ultimately repossessed. Norwest recouped $2,665.47 from its $6,653 loan. Also, after the 1988 Mazda was stolen, First Bank East received the loan amount of $15,039 from its insurance company. Both banks, therefore, lost far less than the amount which the district court used for sentencing purposes. 7 Although the banks were able to recoup a substantial portion of their loans, we agree with the district court that a defendant's offense level should not turn on whether or not the banks recovered some of their potential loan losses. Rather, the focus for sentencing purposes should be on the amount of the possible loss which Johnson attempted to inflict on the banks. Commentary 7 under section 2F1.1 of the guidelines provides that if a probable or intended loss that the defendant was attempting to inflict can be determined, that figure would be used if it was larger than the actual loss. Accordingly, the district court did not err in finding that the total dollar loss of $21,692 should be used in calculating Johnson's offense level.