United States v. Shannon, No. 15-2667 (7th Cir. 2016)
Annotate this CaseIn 2014, Shannon was charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud; two counts of identity theft (Counts 2 and 3); and two counts of aggravated identity theft. Following a bench trial, he was found guilty on all counts and was sentenced to 14 months each on Counts 1, 2 and 3, to run concurrently, and 24 months on Counts 4 and 5, to run concurrently with each other, but consecutively as to Counts 1–3. Shannon’s total prison sentence amounted to 38 months of incarceration followed by 3 years of supervised release. The Seventh Circuit affirmed, rejecting an argument that the prosecution’s evidence was heavily dependent of the uncorroborated testimony of Taylor, a cooperating witness with “powerful motivation to falsify.” Shannon had provided Taylor, an accountant, with 107 stolen identities, directing him to use the stolen identities to prepare and file false tax returns. The court upheld the application of a 2-level Sentencing Guidelines enhancement for the organizer or leader of a criminal enterprise. The district court appropriately considered the relevant facts in concluding that the preponderance of the evidence supported a finding that Shannon was a “supervisor” under U.S.S.G. 3B1.1(c).
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.