United States v. Simmons, No. 22-1321 (7th Cir. 2023)
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Simmons used another person’s Social Security number and falsified employment information to open a savings account and apply for multiple loans and credit cards at a credit union. Convicted of bank fraud, 18 U.S.C. 1344, and aggravated identity theft, section 1028A, Simmons argued that the government had not proved that he knew the Social Security number belonged to another person and, at sentencing, objected to the PSR’s calculation of the intended loss amount. The PSR calculated Simmons’s total intended loss amount at $176,326. That included a cashier’s check Simmons had cashed plus each loan and credit card amount for which he had applied—some of which had been denied. Simmons argued that he only intended to obtain one credit card and one auto loan and that if he had succeeded in obtaining a credit card and car loan on January 23, he would have stopped. Excluding two additional applications would have brought the loss amount under $150,000, resulting in an enhancement of only eight levels instead of ten.
The district court adopted the PSR’s loss amount, and, with a Guidelines range of 30-37 months, sentenced Simmons to 46 months on the bank fraud counts, followed by a mandatory consecutive sentence of 24 months on the aggravated identity theft count. The Seventh Circuit affirmed. Sufficient evidence supported Simmons’s aggravated identity theft conviction, and the loss amount finding was not clearly erroneous.
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