USA v. Guina Senan Leon, No. 17-12229 (11th Cir. 2018)
Annotate this Case
Download PDF
Case: 17-12229 Date Filed: 02/15/2018 Page: 1 of 3 [DO NOT PUBLISH] IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT ________________________ No. 17-12229 Non-Argument Calendar ________________________ D.C. Docket No. 1:16-cr-20915-JEM-2 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee, versus GUINA SENAN LEON, Defendant-Appellant. ________________________ Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida ________________________ (February 15, 2018) Before TJOFLAT, WILLIAM PRYOR and NEWSOM, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM: Case: 17-12229 Date Filed: 02/15/2018 Page: 2 of 3 Guina Senan Leon appeals her below-guidelines sentence of 27 months of imprisonment, which was imposed following her plea of guilty to conspiring to defraud health care benefit programs by submitting false claims by wire transmissions. 18 U.S.C. §§ 1349, 1343. Leon argues that her sentence is substantively unreasonable. We affirm. The district court did not abuse its discretion when it sentenced Leon to a term 14 months below the low end of her advisory guideline range. Leon served as the straw owner of two medical clinics that submitted to private insurance companies more than $20 million in false claims for medical services ostensibly prescribed by doctors. With a total offense level of 22, which included a two-level reduction for her minor role, United States Sentencing Guidelines Manual § 3B1.2(b) (Nov. 2016), Leon faced an advisory guideline range of 41 to 51 months of imprisonment. At the recommendation of the government, the district court varied downward and imposed a sentence of 27 months to account for Leon’s substantial assistance. See id. § 5K1.1. Leon moved for a further reduction to account for her background and to achieve parity with the sentence imposed on another straw owner in a different scheme to defraud. Leon, who obtained degrees to serve as a nurse’s assistant and as a registered nurse and received $24,000 for serving as the registered officer and manager of the clinics, for obtaining 2 Case: 17-12229 Date Filed: 02/15/2018 Page: 3 of 3 occupational licenses, for signing checks and forms, and for cashing checks for the owner of the two clinics, offered no evidence that her comparator had a “similar record[] . . . [and] ha[d] been found guilty of similar criminal conduct,” 28 U.S.C. § 991(b)(1)(B). See United States v. Docampo, 573 F.3d 1091, 1101 (11th Cir. 2009). And the district court reasonably determined that a sentence of 27 months was required to deter further similar crimes, to reflect the seriousness of her offense, and provide just punishment for her role in the conspiracy. See 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a). Leon’s sentence, which is well below her statutory maximum penalty of 20 years, is reasonable. See United States v. Croteau, 819 F.3d 1293, 1310 (11th Cir. 2016). We AFFIRM Leon’s sentence. 3
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
