United States v. Pawlowski, No. 10-4105 (3d Cir. 2012)
Annotate this CaseDefendant communicated with a detective who was posing as a 15-year-old girl on a social networking website. In response to defendant's question, the detective stated that she was 15 years old. Defendant raised sexual topics during communications online and by cellular telephone, masturbated in front of "Ashley" on his webcam, and discussed arrangements to meet in person, including whether he should buy condoms. He was arrested at the place arranged for the meeting. Convicted of attempted enticement of a minor, 18 U.S.C. 2422(b), he was sentenced to 121 months' imprisonment and 25 years of supervised release. The Third Circuit affirmed, rejecting a challenged to the sufficiency of the evidence that defendant believed he was communicating with a minor and an argument that the government's remark that defense counsel would "certainly present evidence" violated his Fifth Amendment rights. The district court properly calculated the sentencing range, based on masturbation constituting "sexual contact" for the purpose of the two-level enhancement under U.S.S.G. 2G1.3(b)(4)(A).
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