United States v. Candace K. Wood

8 F. App'x 588

• Court: Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
• Decided: May 8, 2001
• Docket: 00-2087
• Status: Unpublished

Opinion

PER CURIAM.

Candace K. Wood embezzled money from her former employer by preparing and submitting fraudulent contractor-reimbursement claims for payment. She was the sole supervisor over the employees responsible for assessing and preparing the claims. She later pleaded guilty to five counts of mail fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1341-1342 (1994), and one count of money-laundering, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1957 (1994). At sentencing, over Wood’s objection, the District Court 1 imposed an abuse-of-trust enhancement under U.S. Sentencing Guidelines Manual § 3B1.3 (2000), and sentenced Wood to serve concurrent terms of forty-one months imprisonment and three years supervised release on each count, and to pay restitution. On appeal Wood challenges the abuse-of-trust enhancement, arguing that her supervisors placed unwarranted trust in her.

Having carefully reviewed the record, see United States v. Baker, 200 F.3d 558, 563 (8th Cir.2000) (standard of review), we conclude the District Court did not erroneously apply the enhancement; Wood held a position of private trust which she used to both facilitate and conceal the fraudulent claims. See U.S.S.G. § 3B1.3; United States v. Gjerde, 110 F.3d 595, 605 (8th Cir.), cert. denied, 522 U.S. 949, 118 S.Ct. 367, 139 L.Ed.2d 285 (1997); United States v. Brelsford, 982 F.2d 269, 272 (8th Cir. 1992).

Accordingly, we affirm.

A true copy.

1 . The Honorable Robert T. Dawson, United States District Judge for the Western District of Arkansas.