§2D2.2 Acquiring a Controlled Substance by Forgery, Fraud, Deception, or Subterfuge: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2016
In fiscal year 2016, 53 people were sentenced in federal court under §2D2.2, "Acquiring a Controlled Substance by Forgery, Fraud, Deception, or Subterfuge; Attempt or Conspiracy." All 53 (100%) pleaded guilty. Most, 35 (66%), received probation only, and 12 (23%) were sent to prison for a median of
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Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › §2D2.2 Acquiring a Controlled Substance by Forgery, Fraud, D › §2D2.2: FY2016
In brief: In fiscal year 2016, 53 people were sentenced in federal court under §2D2.2, "Acquiring a Controlled Substance by Forgery, Fraud, Deception, or Subterfuge; Attempt or Conspiracy." All 53 (100%) pleaded guilty. Most, 35 (66%), received probation only, and 12 (23%) were sent to prison for a median of 6 months.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 53 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2016. 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.
Probation Only Was the Most Common Result
Of the 53 people sentenced in fiscal year 2016, 35 (66%) received probation only, with no prison or other confinement. A prison term was imposed on 12 (23%).
Among those 12, the median prison term was 6 months. A quarter received 9.8 months or more, and a quarter received 1.7 months or less. The Commission records the term imposed, not the time served. With only 12 people sent to prison, a median can change a great deal from one year to the next.
Every Case Ended in a Guilty Plea
All 53 people (100%) pleaded guilty, and none was convicted after a trial. Because no one was convicted at trial, the data has no trial median to compare with a plea median.
Among the guilty pleas, 91% had a written plea agreement and 9% were straight pleas with no agreement. No mandatory minimum prison term applied to any of the 53 people with that information recorded (0%).
Sentences Mostly Within the Guideline Range
The guideline range is the range the Guidelines Manual calculates for a case. In fiscal year 2016, 75% of sentences (40 people) were within it. Below the range at the government's request were 13% (7), and below the range without a government request were 9% (5). One person (2%) was above the range.
For all federal cases in fiscal year 2016, only 49% of sentences were within the range.
Supervised Release, Fines, and Restitution
Supervised release after prison was ordered for 11 people (21%), with a median term of 12 months. A fine was ordered for 12 (23%), and restitution for 3 (6%).
Comparison With Later Years and All Guidelines
Across fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 539 people were sentenced under §2D2.2. Of those, 29% went to prison, the median prison term was 6 months, 99% pleaded guilty, and 82% of sentences were within the range. The 23% sent to prison in fiscal year 2016 was lower than the 29% for all years.
In the next fiscal year, 2017, 56 people were sentenced, the median prison term was 7 months, and 80% of sentences were within the range.
For everyone sentenced in fiscal year 2016 under any guideline, there were 67,742 people, with a median prison term of 24 months and 97% guilty pleas. The table shows each year.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 53 | 6 months | 100% |
| 2017 | 56 | 7 months | 100% |
| 2018 | 58 | 12 months | 98% |
| 2019 | 111 | 6 months | 98% |
| 2020 | 63 | 3 months | 98% |
| 2021 | 48 | 7 months | 98% |
| 2022 | 51 | 6 months | 100% |
| 2023 | 40 | 6 months | 100% |
| 2024 | 34 | 1.6 months | 100% |
| 2025 | 25 | 3 months | 96% |
Limits of the Numbers
The data counts only people who were convicted and sentenced. Acquittals and dismissals are not included. The fiscal year ran from October 1, 2015 to September 30, 2016.
In this year, 60% of these people were in criminal history category I and 2% were in category VI. The approved crosswalk has no close court-martial counterpart for this guideline, so only federal numbers are reported.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2016 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2D2.2 (53), 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 (the background article)
- Federal Prosecution Analysis (all federal posts)
- How the Federal Comparison Data Was Built (sources and method)
- §2D2.2 Acquiring a Controlled Substance by Forgery, Fraud, Deception, or Subterfuge: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- §2D2.2 Acquiring a Controlled Substance by Forgery, Fraud, Deception, or Subterfuge: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2017 (previous or next fiscal year)
- How Often Federal Judges Sentence Outside the Guideline Range
- Mandatory Minimums: How Many Federal Sentences Are Set by Congress
- 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.