§2D2.2 Acquiring a Controlled Substance by Forgery, Fraud, Deception, or Subterfuge: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2023
Of 40 people sentenced under §2D2.2 in fiscal year 2023, 15 (38%) received a prison term and 23 (58%) received probation only. The guideline is titled "Acquiring a Controlled Substance by Forgery, Fraud, Deception, or Subterfuge; Attempt or Conspiracy." The median prison term was 6 months, and all 4
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Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › §2D2.2 Acquiring a Controlled Substance by Forgery, Fraud, D › §2D2.2: FY2023
In brief: Of 40 people sentenced under §2D2.2 in fiscal year 2023, 15 (38%) received a prison term and 23 (58%) received probation only. The guideline is titled "Acquiring a Controlled Substance by Forgery, Fraud, Deception, or Subterfuge; Attempt or Conspiracy." The median prison term was 6 months, and all 40 people pleaded guilty.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 40 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2023. 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.
The Share Sent to Prison
In fiscal year 2023, 15 of the 40 people (38%) were sent to prison, and 23 (58%) received probation only, with no prison or other confinement. The 38% was higher than the 29% for all fiscal years 2016 to 2025 under this guideline.
Fiscal year 2022 had 51 people and fiscal year 2024 had 34, so the count in 2023 was in the middle of the neighboring years.
How Long the Prison Terms Were
The median prison term was 6 months. A quarter received 12 months or more, and a quarter received 3.9 months or less. The median was the same as the 6 months for all years combined.
After prison, 14 people (35%) were ordered to serve supervised release, with a median term of 12 months. These are terms imposed, not the time served.
Pleas, Plea Agreements, and Mandatory Minimums
All 40 people (100%) pleaded guilty, and 0 were convicted after a trial. Among the guilty pleas, 95% had a written plea agreement and 5% were straight pleas with no agreement.
A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 1 of the 40 people with that information recorded (3%).
Within the Guideline Range
The guideline range is the range the Guidelines Manual calculates for a case. In fiscal year 2023, 83% of sentences (33 people) were within it. Below the range at the government's request were 10% (4), and below it without a government request were 8% (3). None were above the range (0%).
For all federal cases that year, 42% of sentences were within the range.
Fines and Restitution
A fine was ordered for 14 people (35%). Restitution was ordered for 1 person (3%). The records used here do not say what the restitution was for or how much was ordered.
Other Years and All Guidelines
Fiscal year 2022 had a median prison term of 6 months and 80% of sentences within the range. Fiscal year 2024 had a median of 1.6 months and 82% within the range. The table lists each year.
For every guideline in fiscal year 2023, 64,124 people were sentenced, the median prison term was 30 months, and 97% pleaded guilty. Across fiscal years 2016 to 2025, §2D2.2 covered 539 people.
| 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% |
What the Records Cannot Show
The data covers only people who were convicted and sentenced. Acquittals and dismissals are not counted. The fiscal year ran from October 1, 2022 to September 30, 2023.
In this year, 73% of these people were in criminal history category I, and 3% were in category VI. The approved crosswalk has no close court-martial counterpart. The records cannot show why this year's share sent to prison differed from other years.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2023 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2D2.2 (40), 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.
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)
- §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 2022 (previous or next fiscal year)
- §2D2.2 Acquiring a Controlled Substance by Forgery, Fraud, Deception, or Subterfuge: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2024 (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.