Federal Fraud, Theft, and Embezzlement Sentences in the District of North Dakota, FY2016–2025
In the District of North Dakota, 159 people were sentenced for fraud, theft, or embezzlement in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. The median prison term among the 127 sent to prison was 1.6 months, lower than the 20 months for this offense type across all 94 districts. Restitution was ordered for 124 peopl
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Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › Federal Sentences in the District of North Dakota, FY2016–20 › Fraud, Theft, and Embezzlement: District of North Dakota
In brief: In the District of North Dakota, 159 people were sentenced for fraud, theft, or embezzlement in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. The median prison term among the 127 sent to prison was 1.6 months, lower than the 20 months for this offense type across all 94 districts. Restitution was ordered for 124 people (78%).
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 159 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. Acquittals and dismissals come from a second source, the Federal Judicial Center's records of 753,808 federal defendants whose cases ended in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. It is part of the Federal Prosecution Analysis series, which builds on Military Moves Toward Sentencing Guidelines to Mirror the Federal System. How the numbers were built: How the Federal Comparison Data Was Built.
Restitution Was the Most Common Financial Order
Restitution was ordered for 124 of the 159 people (78%). A fine was ordered for 7 people (4%).
Supervised release after prison was ordered for 106 people (67%), with a median term of 36 months.
A Short Median and a Wide Spread
Of the 159 people, 127 (80%) received a prison term, and 30 (19%) received probation only, with no prison or other confinement. The median prison term for those sent to prison was 1.6 months.
A quarter received 0 months or less, and a quarter received 24 months or more. The spread between 0 months and 24 months is wide, so the median describes the middle of the group and not a typical case.
Across all 94 districts, 73% of people in this type were sent to prison. For all offenses in the district, the median prison term was 36 months. Prison terms are the terms imposed, not time served.
Guilty Pleas and Trials
Guilty pleas accounted for 156 of the 159 convictions (98%), and 3 people were convicted after a trial. The rate was 96% across all 94 districts and 97% for all offenses in the district.
The median prison term after a guilty plea was 0.9 months. After a trial it was 33 months, based on 3 people, which is too few to show how trials generally end. Among guilty pleas, 98% had a written plea agreement and 2% were straight pleas.
Sentences Below the Range at the Government's Request
The sentence was below the guideline range at the government's request for 68 people (43%). It was within the range for 61 people (38%). It was below the range without a government request for 27 people (17%), and above the range for 3 people (2%).
Across all 94 districts, 45% of sentences for this type were within the range. For all offenses in the district, the figure was 34%. A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 12 of the 159 people (8%).
The Guidelines and the Criminal History Categories
The offense type is the U.S. Sentencing Commission's "Fraud/Theft/Embezzlement" category. Nearly all cases, 154, used §2B1.1 (Larceny, Embezzlement, and Other Forms of Theft). One used §2B1.5 (Theft of, Damage to, or Destruction of, Cultural Heritage Resources).
In the lowest criminal history category, category I, were 63% of the people, and 6% were in the highest, category VI. These cases were 5% of the 3,337 people sentenced in the district.
Counts and Medians by Year
Fiscal years 2016 to 2019 account for 88 people, and fiscal years 2020 to 2025 account for 71 people. A fiscal year starts on October 1 and ends the following September.
The yearly median is 0 months in fiscal years 2018, 2020, and 2024, and it is 22.5 months in 2021 and 21 months in 2025. The count falls to 5 people in 2025. The records cannot show why the figures change from year to year.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 18 | 2 months | 100% |
| 2017 | 16 | 0.1 months | 94% |
| 2018 | 23 | 0 months | 100% |
| 2019 | 31 | 6 months | 97% |
| 2020 | 13 | 0 months | 100% |
| 2021 | 16 | 22.5 months | 94% |
| 2022 | 17 | 11.9 months | 100% |
| 2023 | 10 | 19.5 months | 100% |
| 2024 | 10 | 0 months | 100% |
| 2025 | 5 | 21 months | 5 of 5 |
What Cannot Be Read From the Data
The records include only people who were convicted and sentenced. Charges that ended in acquittal or dismissal are absent, and the sheet gives no loss amounts or case facts.
Grand Forks AFB and Minot AFB, both in North Dakota, are within this district's boundaries. Military courts try courts-martial, so these federal figures do not speak to them.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in the District of North Dakota (U.S. Sentencing Commission district label "North Dakota") in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 whose offense type was "Fraud/Theft/Embezzlement" (159). Offense types are the Commission's OFFGUIDE categories.
Federal fiscal years run from October 1 to September 30. No person, judge, or lawyer is identified in any of these records.
What to Keep in Mind
No parole in federal prison; credit for good conduct. Federal prison has no parole for crimes committed on or after November 1, 1987. A federal prisoner can earn up to 54 days of good conduct credit for each year of the sentence the judge imposed, which is about 15%. Some federal prisoners can also earn First Step Act time credits, but many offenses make a person ineligible. The numbers in this post are the sentences judges imposed, not the time people actually served.
Federal supervised release. Most federal prison sentences are followed by a term of supervised release that the judge sets as part of the sentence. A person who violates it can be sent back to prison. A court-martial cannot sentence anyone to supervision after release. Military parole and mandatory supervised release are decided later by a board, not by the judge at trial.
Who decides the sentence, and under what rules. Federal judges sentence every federal case. They must calculate the Sentencing Guidelines range, which is advisory, and must impose any mandatory minimum the statute requires unless an exception applies. In courts-martial, the accused could choose sentencing by members until the rules changed. For cases in which every guilty finding is for an offense committed after December 27, 2023, a military judge sentences alone, within sentencing parameters. Courts-martial tried in 2024 and later include both old-rule and new-rule cases, and the data cannot tell them apart.
Time periods. Federal numbers are by federal fiscal year (October 1 to September 30), based on the sentencing date. The military numbers are by trial date. Neither source has the date of the offense, so a change in law shows up in either data set gradually.
How life sentences and "time served" are counted. In the federal numbers, a life sentence is counted as 470 months, and any other sentence longer than 470 months is counted as just under 470 months. A sentence of "time served" is counted as one day (0.03 months). Averages are affected by these rules; medians much less.
Mandatory minimum sentences. Many federal statutes on drugs, images of child exploitation, child sex abuse, and firearms carry mandatory minimum prison terms. The UCMJ has mandatory minimums only for a few offenses (a dishonorable discharge or dismissal for rape and sexual assault, and life for premeditated murder). Federal sentences for these offenses are partly set by Congress, not by the judge.
Related Analysis
- Military Moves Toward Sentencing Guidelines to Mirror the Federal System (the background article)
- Federal Prosecution Analysis (all federal posts)
- How the Federal Comparison Data Was Built (sources and method)
- Federal Sentences in the District of North Dakota, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- Federal Drug Trafficking Sentences in the District of North Dakota, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Immigration Offense Sentences in the District of North Dakota, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Firearms Sentences in the District of North Dakota, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Assault Sentences in the District of North Dakota, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- U.S. Sentencing Commission, Individual Offender Datafiles (source)
- Federal Judicial Center, Integrated Database (criminal defendants) (source)
About the author. Jocelyn C. Stewart is a retired Army JAG with more than 24 years of trying courts-martial and more than 200 jury trials. She hosts Where All The Bodies Are Buried and runs the Law Office of Jocelyn C. Stewart. This analysis is for education and information only. It is not legal advice, and every case is different.