UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Hong Ha Thi NGUYEN, Defendant-Appellant

Defendant Hong Ha Thi Nguyen appeals her 13-month sentence, imposed by the district court after a jury convicted her of one count of conspiracy in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371 and one count of possession of counterfeit access devices in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1029 (a)(3). Nguyen raises primarily one sentencing issue: whether a blank credit card is an “access device” within the meaning of 18 U.S.C. § 1029 (e)(1). We conclude that it is, and we affirm.

BACKGROUND

Nguyen and her codefendant Richard Tiep Hoang contacted Ron Hession, a salesman at Plastic Graphics, to inquire about purchasing membership cards, an encoder, and an embosser, to be used for generating video store membership cards. Hoang gave Hession cash, and Hession ordered an encoder and an embosser for Hoang. When Hoang and Nguyen picked up the encoder from the home of Richard Castro, a service manager at Plastic Graphics, Hoang asked Castro if he could provide blank credit cards. In Nguyen’s presence, Castro told Hoang that “it was illegal to get” blank credit cards.

Hession grew suspicious of Hoang and Nguyen because the only contact information they gave him was a pager number, so he notified the United…