Appellate Law

CA1: District Court did okay in calculating loss amount

By S. COTUS

US v. Stoupis, No. 07-1410 (6/26/08).  This is an ?amount of loss? sentencing appeal.  Here are the facts:

Because his job at the computer help desk gave him access to Hanscom Air Force Base's information technology systems, Stoupis was able to create email addresses that appeared to belong to different military personnel. When he saw a Cisco recall notice posted on the Internet for specific equipment, he would use one of the fictitious email addresses to request replacement equipment from Cisco. Stoupis would either select a serial number within the range listed in the recall notice or simply make one up to include in his request. The replacement request would appear to be on behalf of NG or the military, but Stoupis would arrange for the equipment to be shipped to either his house or a relative's house.

He then sold the stuff on Ebay.  The PSR placed the value at 7.2 million.  The Court placed it at 4.2 million, because of the differences between pricing for the military and the differences between new and refurbished equipment.   Looking at  U.S.S.G. § 2B1.1 cmt. n.3(C) (2007), and says that ?measuring fair market value through a price reflecting the market out of which the goods were stolen -- is perfectly consistent with our precedent? is good enough.

Full post as published by Appellate Law and Practice on June 30, 2008 (boomark / email).