United States v. Dereck Ricardo Hoskins

Dereck R. Hoskins was convicted for his participation in the robbery of a K Mart store in Los Angeles, California. At the time of the robbery, Hoskins had been working for only a month as a security guard at the store. He helped plan and carry out the robbery while posing as a “victim” of the armed robbery. Hoskins appeals his conviction under 18 U.S.C. § 924 (c), arguing that there was insufficient evidence to support the conviction. He also challenges the two two-level sentencing enhancements imposed under U.S.S.G. § 2B3.1(b)(4)(B) and § 3B1.3. We affirm the conviction, but reverse the sentence in part because the abuse of trust enhancement under U.S.S.G. § 3B1.3 is not applicable to Hoskins.

BACKGROUND

Hoskins was charged for his involvement in a single robbery of a K Mart store on November 9, 1997. Although that robbery was part of a series of related K Mart robberies that occurred between May 1997 and January 1998, only the November 9 robbery is at issue in this appeal.

At the time of the robbery, Hoskins had just completed his first month working as a security guard at a K Mart store in Los Angeles. Yvette Crystal Wade, one of Hoskins’s co-defendants and his girlfriend at…