> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.bodiesburied.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # §2B1.5 Theft of, Damage to, or Destruction of, Cultural Heritage Resources: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2019 - URL: https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2b1-5-theft-of-damage-to-or-destruction-of-fy2019/ - Published: 2026-11-04T10:58:22.000Z - Updated: 2026-11-04T10:58:22.000Z - Description: In fiscal year 2019, the median prison term under §2B1.5 was 24 months (2 years), the highest in the yearly table. 5 of the 12 people sentenced (42%) received prison, and 7 (58%) received probation only. 11 of the 12 (92%) pleaded guilty. - Author: Jocelyn C. Stewart - Tags: Understanding Trends, Federal [Trends](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/) › [Federal Prosecution Analysis](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal/) › [§2B1.5 Theft of, Damage to, or Destruction of, Cultural Heri](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2b1-5-theft-of-damage-to-or-destruction-of/) › §2B1.5: FY2019 **In brief:** In fiscal year 2019, the median prison term under §2B1.5 was 24 months (2 years), the highest in the yearly table. 5 of the 12 people sentenced (42%) received prison, and 7 (58%) received probation only. 11 of the 12 (92%) pleaded guilty. Updated November 4, 2026 · Sources: U.S. Sentencing Commission and Federal Judicial Center, fiscal years 2016–2025 This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 12 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2019\. 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](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal/) series, which builds on [Military Moves Toward Sentencing Guidelines to Mirror the Federal System](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/military-sentencing-guidelines-federal-system/). How the numbers were built: [How the Federal Comparison Data Was Built](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-data-methodology/). ## The Highest Median Prison Term in the Table: 24 Months Among the 5 people sent to prison under §2B1.5 in fiscal year 2019, the median prison term was 24 months, or 2 years. A quarter received 12 months or less, and a quarter received 33 months or more. The terms are those imposed, not time served. The table shows medians of 15 months for fiscal year 2018 and 12 months for fiscal year 2020\. For all years from 2016 to 2025, the median was 11.8 months. A median based on 5 people can move a great deal from one year to the next. ## Probation Only for 7 of 12 People The U.S. Sentencing Commission counted 12 people in fiscal year 2019 whose primary guideline was §2B1.5\. 5 (42%) received a prison term, and 7 (58%) received probation only, with no prison or other confinement. 5 people (42%) were ordered to serve supervised release after prison, with a median term of 24 months. The share sent to prison was a little lower than the 46% for all years in the period. ## Plea and Trial Sentences 11 of the 12 people (92%) pleaded guilty, and 1 was convicted after a trial. Every guilty plea had a written plea agreement. The median prison term after a guilty plea was 22.5 months, and for the 1 person convicted after a trial it was 24 months. Those figures are close, but a single trial case does not allow a general comparison. A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 0 of the 12 people. ## Evenly Divided Sentences Against the Range The 12 sentences divided evenly. 4 (33%) were within the guideline range, 4 (33%) were below it at the government's request, and 4 (33%) were below it without a government request. None was above the range. Across fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 31% of sentences under this guideline were within the range, so 2019 was a little higher than the full period. ## Restitution, Fines, and Criminal History Restitution was ordered for 11 of the 12 people (92%). No fine was ordered (0%). 42% of the people were in the lowest criminal history category, category I, and 25% were in the highest, category VI. Court-martial records have no criminal history field. ## Fiscal Year 2019 and the Rest of the Federal System Fiscal year 2019 ran from October 1, 2018 to September 30, 2019\. For all guidelines in that year, 76,538 people were sentenced. The median prison term was 21 months, 98% pleaded guilty, and 51% of sentences were within the range. From fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 122 people were sentenced under §2B1.5, and 93% pleaded guilty. The table lists each year from 21 people in fiscal year 2016 to 18 in fiscal year 2025. | Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty | | ----------- | ---------------- | ------------- | -------------- | | 2016 | 21 | 6 months | 100% | | 2017 | 17 | 8.8 months | 94% | | 2018 | 9 | 15 months | 8 of 9 | | 2019 | 12 | 24 months | 92% | | 2020 | 8 | 12 months | 7 of 8 | | 2021 | 7 | 18 months | 6 of 7 | | 2022 | 7 | 11.6 months | 7 of 7 | | 2023 | 12 | 6 months | 92% | | 2024 | 11 | 2.5 months | 82% | | 2025 | 18 | 12 months | 94% | ## What These Numbers Do Not Reveal The Manual titles the guideline "Theft of, Damage to, or Destruction of, Cultural Heritage Resources," and the Commission files these cases under Fraud/Theft/Embezzlement. The records do not describe any case or the reasons for a sentence. Only 12 people are in this year, so it should not be read as a trend. The crosswalk has no close court-martial counterpart, so the post reports federal numbers alone. ### How We Counted Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2019 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2B1.5 (12), U.S. Sentencing Commission individual data files. The primary guideline is the one that set the offense level for the most serious count. 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. ## Related Analysis - [Military Moves Toward Sentencing Guidelines to Mirror the Federal System](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/military-sentencing-guidelines-federal-system/) (the background article) - [Federal Prosecution Analysis](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal/) (all federal posts) - [How the Federal Comparison Data Was Built](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-data-methodology/) (sources and method) - [§2B1.5 Theft of, Damage to, or Destruction of, Cultural Heritage Resources: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2b1-5-theft-of-damage-to-or-destruction-of/) (overview) - [How Often Federal Judges Sentence Outside the Guideline Range](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-sentences-outside-guideline-range/) - [Mandatory Minimums: How Many Federal Sentences Are Set by Congress](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-mandatory-minimum-sentences/) - [U.S. Sentencing Commission, Individual Offender Datafiles](https://www.ussc.gov/research/datafiles/commission-datafiles?ref=bodiesburied.com) (source) - [Federal Judicial Center, Integrated Database (criminal defendants)](https://www.fjc.gov/research/idb?ref=bodiesburied.com) (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](https://www.ucmj-defender.com/?ref=bodiesburied.com). This analysis is for education and information only. It is not legal advice, and every case is different.