NOT FOR PUBLICATION FILED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FEB 12 2020 MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK U.S. COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, No. 18-50329

Plaintiff-Appellee, D.C. No. 2:17-cr-00645-GW-2

v. MEMORANDUM* BRANDON NICHOLAS WARD,

Defendant-Appellant.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Central District of California George H. Wu, District Judge, Presiding

Argued and Submitted October 18, 2019 Pasadena, California

Before: WARDLAW and HURWITZ, Circuit Judges, and BATAILLON,** District Judge.

Brandon Ward appeals the district court’s ruling to run his sentence on

Count II consecutively under 18 U.S.C. § 1028A and in accordance with United

States v. Gonzalez, 520 U.S. 1, 10 (1997). We agree that the district court has no

* This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3. ** The Honorable Joseph F. Bataillon, United States District Judge for the District of Nebraska, sitting by designation. discretion under § 1028A, and it must run the federal and state sentences

consecutively. 18 U.S.C. § 1028A(b)(2). The Aggravated Identity Theft statute,

18 U.S.C.§ 1028A(b)(2), requires a consecutive sentence. The district court was

correct in this regard.

Ward also argues that his appellate waiver is not applicable. We decline to

dismiss the appeal on the basis of the appeal waiver and instead affirm on the

merits. See United States v. Jacobo Castillo, 496 F.3d 947, 957 (9th Cir. 2007) (en

banc).

AFFIRMED.

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