Opinion ID: 2646247
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Relevant Conduct and Loss Calculation

Text: Under the Guidelines, if the defendant is convicted of mail fraud, he or she receives an enhancement based on the monetary loss caused by the crime. See U.S. Sentencing Guidelines Manual § 2B1.1(b). When the loss is more than $400,000, but not more than $1,000,000, the defendant receives a fourteenlevel enhancement; for losses above $1,000,000, but not more than $2,500,000, the defendant receives a sixteen-level enhancement. Id. § 2B1.1(b)(1)(H) & (I). The commentary to the Guidelines explains that the loss caused by the crime is the greater of actual loss or intended loss, where actual loss is the “reasonably foreseeable pecuniary harm that resulted from the offense.” Id. § 2B1.1 cmt. n.3(A). The calculation of loss need not be precise; the sentencing judge “need only make a reasonable estimate of the loss.” Id. § 2B1.1 cmt. n.3(C). The court is not limited to the losses resulting from the specific conduct for which the defendant was convicted, and it may also include “relevant conduct” in its calculation. United States v. Randall, 157 F.3d 328, 331 (5th 3 Because a reduction of his offense level by only one point would have resulted in a lower sentence, Thomas also argues that these errors were not harmless and asks the panel to vacate his sentence and remand for re-sentencing. However, since we find that the district court did not commit error at sentencing, we need not consider his final argument. 10 Case: 12-11274 Document: 00512471484 Page: 11 Date Filed: 12/16/2013 No. 12-11274 Cir. 1998) (citing U.S. Sentencing Guidelines Manual § 1B1.3). Relevant conduct includes offenses that are part of a common scheme or plan that relates to the underlying offense. See U.S. Sentencing Guidelines Manual § 1B1.3(a)(1)(B). “For two or more offenses to constitute part of a common scheme or plan, they must be substantially connected to each other by at least one common factor, such as common victims, common accomplices, common purpose, or similar modus operandi.” Id. § 1B1.3 cmt. n.9(A). The court relied on the presentence report (“PSR”) to conclude that the seventeen sales to which Thomas objects constituted “relevant conduct,” and it included those properties in the loss calculation. The PSR is presumed reliable, and the sentencing court may rely on the PSR and adopt it in the absence of rebuttal evidence. United States v. Alaniz, 726 F.3d 586, 619 (5th Cir. 2013). The burden is on the defendant to show that the information in the PSR “is materially untrue.” Id. (citation omitted). Thomas did not provide evidence to the district court to support his objection to the inclusion of the seventeen properties in the PSR, and he cannot overcome his burden to show that the PSR was erroneous with objections alone. United States v. Huerta, 182 F.3d 361, 364 (5th Cir. 1999). On appeal, he rebuts the PSR by arguing that some of the conduct occurred two years prior to the charged offenses. However, this oversimplifies the facts, as the PSR shows that the totality of the relevant conduct, i.e., fraudulently obtaining mortgage loans, occurred consistently throughout 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009. Moreover, the PSR plainly describes its methodology for calculating loss, see PSR ¶ 28 (“The loss amounts are based on the original loan amount minus the money that was recouped following the sale of the property”), so Thomas’s assertion that there is no explanation for the loss calculation is patently wrong. We have previously approved this same method in other mortgage fraud cases. See United States v. Murray, 648 F.3d 251, 255 (5th Cir. 2011); United States 11 Case: 12-11274 Document: 00512471484 Page: 12 Date Filed: 12/16/2013 No. 12-11274 v. Goss, 549 F.3d 1013, 1017 (5th Cir. 2008). Thus, there is no legal error in the court’s loss calculation. 4