United States v. Christine L. Christiansen

EUGENE A. WRIGHT, Circuit Judge:

Christiansen embezzled over $96,000 from the credit union she managed, breaching the trust vested in her by her employer. She argues, however, that the district court erred when it enhanced her sentence for abuse of trust. The Sentencing Guidelines make clear that the enhancement may not be applied when the elements of the underlying offense include abuse of trust. Embezzlement appears to be just such an offense, for it involves a breach of trust. Yet because we discern a qualitative difference between a breach of trust and abuse of trust, we find that the…