United States v. Callaway, No. 13-3217 (8th Cir. 2014)
Annotate this CaseDefendant appealed his sentence after being convicted of ten counts of wire fraud and one count of mail fraud for obtaining from his disabled cousin some $300,000 through a fraudulent scheme. The court concluded that the district court did not commit procedural error by applying a 12 level enhancement for the total loss amount; the district court did not commit procedural error by applying a 2 level vulnerable victim penalty; defendant's sentence was substantively reasonable; and the district court did not clearly err in imposing a $25,000 fine. Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment of the district court.
Court Description: Criminal Case - sentence. District court did not plainly err in calculating the loss amount as the intended loss without credit for amount repaid under the fraudulent scheme. The district court did not err in applying a two-level vulnerable victim penalty, notwithstanding that the vulnerable victim's sister represented her financial interests, as the record shows the defendant knew of the unusual vulnerability. The district court did not abuse its discretion in sentencing at the highest end of the guidelines range, noting that the court weighed the section 3553(a) factors. Noting the defendant's ability to earn relatively large sums of money, the district court's imposition of a fine at the low end of the fine range was not error.
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