United States v. McBride

• Decision Date: 18 November 2015
• Docket Number: No. 14-4952,14-4952
• Parties: UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff - Appellee, v. JAMES THOMAS MCBRIDE, a/k/a JT, a/k/a Jaemes Thomas McBride, a/k/a Jim McBride, Defendant - Appellant.
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (4th Circuit)

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff - Appellee, v. JAMES THOMAS MCBRIDE, a/k/a JT, a/k/a Jaemes Thomas McBride,a/k/a Jim McBride, Defendant - Appellant.

No. 14-4952

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

Submitted: November 13, 2015

November 18, 2015

UNPUBLISHED

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, at Alexandria. Anthony J. Trenga, District Judge. (1:14-cr-00175-AJT-1)

Before DUNCAN and WYNN, Circuit Judges, and HAMILTON, Senior Circuit Judge.

Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

Jeffrey D. Zimmerman, SMITH & ZIMMERMAN, PLLC, Alexandria, Virginia, for Appellant. Dana J. Boente, United States Attorney, William E. Johnston, Special Assistant United States Attorney, Kosta S. Stojilkovic, Assistant United States Attorney, Alexandria, Virginia, for Appellee.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.

PER CURIAM:

James Thomas McBride appeals his 42-month sentence following his convictions for one count of conspiring to produce false identification documents and causing the impersonation of diplomats, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371 (2012); one count of causing the impersonation of a diplomat, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 915, 2 (2012); and four counts of producing false identification documents, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1028(a)(1), 2 (2012). Finding no error, we affirm.

McBride raises only one issue on appeal, arguing that the district court erred in applying an enhancement for use of an authentication feature pursuant to U.S. Sentencing Guidelines Manual § 2B1.1(b)(11)(A)(ii) (2014). When evaluating Guidelines calculations, we review the district court's factual findings for clear error and its legal conclusions de novo. United States v. Cox, 744 F.3d 305, 308 (4th Cir. 2014).

McBride argues that, because the identification cards issued by Divine Province did not appear to be issued by the State Department, the sentencing enhancement does not apply. We reject this argument and conclude that the verification system used by McBride was designed to mimic the one used to verify genuine diplomatic immunity cards issued by the State Department. Further, the false authentication feature produced by McBride and the accompanying identification cards weredesigned to appear as if they were issued by "an international government or quasi-governmental organization." 18 U.S.C. § 1028(d)(6) (2012) (defining "issuing authority"); see United States v. Sardariani, 754 F.3d 1118, 1121 (9th...