Opinion ID: 787203
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Loss-to-the-Victim Enhancement

Text: 50 Hunter also contests the District Court's imposition of a two-level enhancement pursuant to U.S.S.G. §§ 2B3.2(b)(2) and 2B3.1(b)(7)(C) for having caused a loss to his victim between $50,000 and $250,000. 51 The District Court agreed with the Probation Office's estimate that the loss that Hunter caused Felix was approximately $144,000. The Probation Office calculated this amount by multiplying $1000, an estimated amount that Hunter received on a weekly basis from Felix, by the estimated duration of Hunter's extortion, 144 weeks. Hunter argues that there is an insufficient evidentiary basis for this calculation. 52 The Government concedes that the evidence at sentencing was insufficient to justify this $144,000 calculation, but argues nonetheless that any error was harmless. The Government notes that documents produced by Hunter establish that Felix paid Hunter's company between $1,600 and $1,700 per month from approximately 1994 to January of 1998 — enough to meet the $50,000 threshold required for a two-level enhancement. Thus, in the Government's view, the miscalculation adopted by the District Court was harmless error. See Government's Br. at 85; see also United States v. Saunders, 129 F.3d 925, 932 (7th Cir.1997) (holding that a loss-to-the-victim miscalculation was harmless error because it did not affect the Guideline determination). 53 The record does indicate some monthly $1,600 to $1,700 payments, but in an imprecise fashion. There is nothing in the record to suggest the regularity or consistency of the monthly payments, or their precise duration. 14 Absent some evidence on that point, we are unable to determine whether the District Court's error in accepting the $144,000 calculation was harmless. Accordingly, we direct the District Court, upon remand, to reconsider the question of the total loss caused by Hunter to Felix before imposing an enhancement on that basis. 54