Judge Paul A. Crotty
Iyer collected Social Security and Medicare receipts by a nursing home’s residents. She deposited a portion thereof into a personal needs allowance account. Iyer pleaded guilty, absent agreement, to embezzling federal money and mail fraud, violating 18 USC §§641 and 1341, respectively. The probation office’s presentence report indicated that Iyer’s offense involved 50 or more victims. It calculated a guidelines sentencing range of 63 to 78 months in prison. Under a Feb. 29, 2008, agreement stipulating a range of 41 to 51 months, Iyer was sentenced to 41 months in prison and $538,526 restitution. The court denied Iyer 28 USC §2255 relief—to remove a four-level enhancement for 50 or more victims—based on ineffective assistance of counsel. Her petition was barred by waiver of her right to collaterally attack a sentence within the stipulated range of 41 to 51 months. Twice under oath she expressed satisfaction with her attorney’s advice. Noting that a “victim” need not be aware of illegal conduct, the court rejected Iyer’s argument that the nursing home’s elderly or incapacitated residents should not be counted as “victims” because they did not know that their money was missing and had been reimbursed after Iyer’s thefts were discovered.
