United States v. Brenton Neil Mullins, United States of America v. Phillip Ross Rinker, United States of America v. James Robert Winkleman

ORDER

The memorandum disposition filed January 8, 1993, is redesignated as an authored opinion by Judge Leavy.

OPINION

Three travel agents were convicted by a jury of mail and wire fraud arising out of their conspiracy to defraud an airline by electronically transferring frequent flyer miles to fictitious accounts and then cashing in those accounts for free airline tickets. On appeal the three agents argue, inter alia, that (1) the district court improperly excluded evidence showing that they did not deprive the airline of anything of value and therefore did not commit mail and wire fraud; (2) the evidence was insufficient to support the convictions; (3) the government used false and misleading evidence; and (4) the district court erred by (a) substituting an alternate juror during deliberations, (b) admitting into evidence electronically intercepted communications in violation of the Fourth Amendment, (c) calculating the amount of loss suffered by the airline, (d) enhancing two of the sentences based on the agents’ roles in the scheme, and (e) failing to reduce the sentences on the grounds of the agents’ minor or minimal participation. We affirm the convictions and all but one…