Sentence in stolen credit scheme affirmed

U.S. v. Lin, 2005 WL 1332337 (6/7/05) - It was okay to take into account the aggregate credit limit of the stolen credit cards to assess the amount of loss for offense level purposes. That some of the cards had been abandoned was not helpful to the defense because the violated statute punished a "scheme," and not just the taking of the cards. Evidence the defendants tried to iron silver foil on credit cards to promote their acceptability supported the enhancement under § 2B1.1(b)(9)(B) for producing an unauthorized access device. It was not enough for reversal for constitutional plain error under Booker that in reaching the enhancement factual findings the judge made inferences upon which reasonable minds could differ.