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Sentencing — abuse of trust

By: WISCONSIN LAW JOURNAL STAFF//December 19, 2012//

Sentencing — abuse of trust

By: WISCONSIN LAW JOURNAL STAFF//December 19, 2012//

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United States Court of Appeals For the Seventh Circuit

Criminal

Sentencing — abuse of trust

Where an assistant bank manager who embezzled from the bank was entrusted with large sums of money, the district court properly applied a two-level enhancement for abusing a position of trust under U.S.S.G. 3B1.3.

“Chase Bank entrusted Wasilewski with access to large sums of money and the responsibility for keeping that money safe and secure. It was his job to account for all of the money in the vault and the TCDs. Wasilewski argues that he was not given greater access to money than an ordinary bank teller because he could not open a TCD without another employee’s code. Wasilewski’s argument ignores all the other things that allowed him to steal from the bank, including keys to the bank and PIN codes to deactivate alarms. Wasilewski needed another TCD code, but once he had it, he was able to enter the bank in the middle of the night, steal the money, and leave on a trip the next morning before anyone knew the money was gone. While the abuse of trust enhancement “does not apply in the case of an embezzlement or theft by an ordinary bank teller,” U.S.S.G. § 3B1.3, n.1, Wasilewski had far more responsibility than an ordinary bank teller.”

Affirmed.

12-2664 U.S. v. Wasilewski

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Norgle, J., Randa, J.

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