United States v. Sylvester Ijewere

MEMORANDUM

Sylvester Ijewere appeals the sentence imposed after he pled guilty to Medicare fraud. He challenges the district court’s imposition of a (1) two-level enhancement for abuse of a position of trust, (2) 12-level enhancement for causing loss greater than $200,000, and (3) drug testing condition for his supervised release. We affirm.

We review the district court’s interpretation of the Sentencing Guidelines de novo, its factual findings for clear error, and its application of the Sentencing Guidelines to the facts for abuse of discretion. United States v. Holt, 510 F.3d 1007, 1010 (9th Cir.2007). We review the district court’s imposition of a supervised release condition for abuse of discretion. United States v. Apodaca, 641 F.3d 1077, 1079 (9th Cir.2011).

The district court did not err in finding that Ijewere abused a position of trust. Ijewere’s role in the fraud had the “element of discretion” required for the abuse of trust enhancement. United States v. Contreras, 593 F.3d 1135, 1136 (9th Cir.2010) (en banc) (adopting parts of panel opinion in United States v. Contreras, 581 F.3d 1163, 1166 (9th Cir.2009)). Ijewere was responsible for evaluating the patients to whom…