Federal Theft and Fraud Sentences With a Loss of $15,001 to $95,000, Fiscal Year 2019
Of 1,076 people sentenced for federal theft or fraud with a loss of $15,001 to $95,000 in fiscal year 2019, 1,047 (97%) pleaded guilty. The 29 convicted at trial had a median prison term of 36 months, compared with 12 months after a guilty plea. The trial median is based on 25 people who were sent t
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Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › Federal Theft and Fraud Sentences With a Loss of $15,001 to › $15,001 to $95,000: FY2019
In brief: Of 1,076 people sentenced for federal theft or fraud with a loss of $15,001 to $95,000 in fiscal year 2019, 1,047 (97%) pleaded guilty. The 29 convicted at trial had a median prison term of 36 months, compared with 12 months after a guilty plea. The trial median is based on 25 people who were sent to prison.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 1,076 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 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.
What Happened to the 29 Trial Convictions?
A trial conviction means a judge or jury found the person guilty after the person contested the charge. In this band, 29 people reached that result in fiscal year 2019, and 25 of them received prison.
Those 25 had a median prison term of 36 months. People who pleaded guilty and went to prison had a median of 12 months.
The trial figure comes from a small group. The records do not show which charges were tried, what facts were proved, or what each person faced before trial. They cannot show why trial sentences were longer in this year.
Where the Sentences Fell Against the Guidelines
Every person in the band has a guideline range, the span of months the federal guidelines recommend. A judge may sentence inside the range or outside it.
Records for all 1,076 people give this information. Inside the range were 46% (499). Below it at the government's request were 21% (224). Below it with no request from the government were 31% (335). Above it were 2% (18).
The records separate below-range sentences by whether the government asked for them. They do not give the reason in either case.
Prison Terms and Probation in 2019
Prison was part of the sentence for 652 people (61%). Probation only, with no prison or other confinement, was the sentence for 289 (27%).
The median prison term was 12 months. At the upper end, a quarter received 29.2 months or more. At the lower end, a quarter received 5 months or less.
Mandatory Minimums, Criminal History, and Plea Agreements
Some offenses carry a minimum prison term set by statute. Such a mandatory minimum applied to 170 people in this band (16%).
Criminal history category I, the lowest category, included 63% of the people sentenced. Category VI, the highest, included 7%.
Among people who pleaded guilty, 90% had a written plea agreement. The other 10% pleaded guilty without one.
Restitution and Supervised Release
Restitution was ordered for 976 people (91%). A fine was much less common: 47 people (4%).
Supervised release, a period of court supervision after prison, was ordered for 640 people (59%). The median term of supervised release was 36 months.
Context From Other Years and Other Loss Bands
Over fiscal years 2016 to 2025, the band included 10,331 people. Their median prison term was 12 months, the same as in fiscal year 2019, and 58% were sent to prison.
All §2B1.1 theft and fraud sentences in fiscal year 2019, across every loss band, totaled 5,707. That full group had a median prison term of 22 months, and 75% were sent to prison. The band's median and its prison share were both lower.
The table shows the yearly count, median prison term, and plea rate for this band.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 1,448 | 12 months | 98% |
| 2017 | 1,270 | 14 months | 97% |
| 2018 | 1,185 | 14 months | 98% |
| 2019 | 1,076 | 12 months | 97% |
| 2020 | 897 | 12 months | 98% |
| 2021 | 826 | 12.3 months | more than 99% |
| 2022 | 934 | 12 months | 98% |
| 2023 | 883 | 12 months | 98% |
| 2024 | 907 | 12 months | 98% |
| 2025 | 905 | 10 months | 99% |
Limits of the Comparison
The Sentencing Commission data covers only people convicted and sentenced. It leaves out acquittals and dismissals. Fiscal year 2019 began October 1, 2018, and ended September 30, 2019.
Military court records seldom record the dollar value of a larceny, and they do not include criminal history. For those reasons, no court-martial figures are set beside this band.
How We Counted
People sentenced in fiscal year 2019 under guideline §2B1.1 whose recorded dollar loss falls in the band "$15,001 to $95,000" (1,076), U.S. Sentencing Commission (LOSSHI).
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
Different cases reach each system. Federal prosecutors bring a narrow set of cases. In fiscal year 2024, immigration and drug trafficking cases were 59% of everyone sentenced in federal court (36,664 of 61,678). Many crimes that the military prosecutes, such as most assaults, most sexual assaults between adults, and drug use, are usually state crimes for civilians and reach federal court only in special situations, such as on federal land or in Indian Country. A federal case and a court-martial for the same crime can involve different kinds of facts.
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.
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)
- Federal Theft and Fraud Sentences With a Loss of $15,001 to $95,000, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- Federal Theft and Fraud Sentences With a Loss of $15,001 to $95,000, Fiscal Year 2018 (previous or next year)
- Federal Theft and Fraud Sentences With a Loss of $15,001 to $95,000, Fiscal Year 2020 (previous or next year)
- Federal Theft and Fraud Sentences With No Dollar Loss, Fiscal Year 2019 (same year, other loss band)
- Federal Theft and Fraud Sentences With a Loss of $1,000 or Less, Fiscal Year 2019 (same year, other loss band)
- Federal Theft and Fraud Sentences With a Loss of $1,001 to $15,000, Fiscal Year 2019 (same year, other loss band)
- Federal Theft and Fraud Sentences With a Loss of $95,001 to $550,000, Fiscal Year 2019 (same year, other loss band)
- Federal Theft and Fraud Sentences With a Loss of $550,001 to $3.5 Million, Fiscal Year 2019 (same year, other loss band)
- Federal Theft and Fraud Sentences With a Loss Over $3.5 Million, Fiscal Year 2019 (same year, other loss band)
- Federal Theft and Fraud Sentences With the Loss Amount Not Specified, Fiscal Year 2019 (same year, other loss band)
- Theft and Fraud by Dollar Loss: Federal Sentences vs. Article 121 Courts-Martial
- Army Article 121 Cases by the Numbers, 2021–2025 (court-martial data)
- Air Force Article 121 Cases by the Numbers, 2016–2025 (court-martial data)
- How Has Article 121 Changed in Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial Since 2017? (court-martial data)
- Article 121 (Larceny): Court-Martial Data and Trends (court-martial data)
- Article 121 UCMJ: Larceny and Wrongful Appropriation (law firm reference page)
- 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.