By: Derek Hawkins//January 30, 2018//
7th Circuit Court of Appeals
Case Name: United States of America v. Rick E. Brown, et al.
Case No.: 15-3117; 15-3261
Officials: BAUER, EASTERBROOK, and RIPPLE, Circuit Judges.
Focus: Sentencing Guidelines
A grand jury indicted Rick E. Brown and Mary C. Talaga with one count of conspiracy to commit health-care fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1349, six counts of health-care fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1347, and three counts of falsifying a matter or providing false statements, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1035(a). A jury convicted them on all counts. The district court sentenced Mr. Brown to eighty-seven months’ imprisonment on the health-care fraud counts and terms of sixty months’ imprisonment on each of the falsification counts to run concurrently with each other and with the fraud counts. In doing so, the district court explained that a significant sentence was warranted for several reasons, including general deterrence. Ms. Talaga was sentenced to concurrent forty-five-month sentences on all of the ten counts.
Both defendants now maintain that the district court erred in imposing their respective sentences. Mr. Brown maintains that the district court’s assumptions about the need for general deterrence were unfounded and constituted procedural error. Ms. Talaga argues that, when the district court calculated the amount of loss for which she was responsible, it impermissibly included losses that occurred before she joined the conspiracy. The inclusion of these amounts resulted in a higher loss amount, corresponding to a higher offense level and sentence.
Because the district court did not err in its reasoning or in its sentencing determination, we affirm its judgments.
Affirmed