United States v. Oliver, No. 18-5465 (6th Cir. 2019)
Annotate this CaseAn informant contacted the FBI and explained that, during an internet chat, Oliver had requested contact information for someone who could facilitate a meeting between Oliver and a minor for the purposes of sexual activity. An FBI agent instructed the informant to provide Oliver with the agent's contact information. Oliver sent the agent images and videos of child pornography and a picture of his penis. For several weeks, the two exchanged messages focusing on Oliver’s interest in having sexual intercourse with the agent’s purported minor daughter. Oliver pleaded guilty to distributing child pornography, 18 U.S.C. 2252(a)(2). Oliver’s PSR called for a five-level enhancement under U.S.S.G. 2G2.2(b)(3)(B), which applies when a defendant distributes child pornography “in exchange for any valuable consideration, but not for pecuniary gain,” stating that the defendant distributed images of child pornography to gain access to a minor to engage in sexual intercourse. The court concluded that there was an “implicit agreement” then calculated a guideline range of 210-262 months. The Sixth Circuit vacated Oliver's 210-month sentence. The district court did not fully consider the essential elements for applying the enhancement under the 2016 version of 2G2.2(b)(3)(B): whether the defendant agreed, explicitly or implicitly, to an exchange with another person and then knowingly distributed child pornography to that person for the specific purpose of obtaining something of valuable consideration from that person.
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.