United States v. Berg, No. 09-2498 (7th Cir. 2011)
Annotate this CaseThe district court imposed a sentence of 124 months for attempting to entice a minor to engage in sexual activity (18 U.S.C. 2422) and of 120 months to be served concurrently for receiving, possessing, and distributing computer images of child pornography (18 U.S.C. 2252). The Seventh Circuit affirmed. There was sufficient evidence that the defendant went to a meeting, set up by an undercover officer posing as a teenage girl (Carrie), intending sexual activity before the girl reached the age of consent. The defendant referred to specific sexual activities in online conversations and traveled to meet the girl, carrying alcohol; there was testimony that he had engaged in sex with minor girls in the past. Although past conduct did not involve sex during first or second meetings and the defendant told Carrie that they would drive around when they met, he admitted that he planned sexual activity if "she wanted." The prosecution's remarks about penalties that an attorney would face for perjury with respect to the defendant's statement, even if improper, were harmless given the "mountain" of evidence. A below-guidelines sentence is presumed reasonable and the defendant's arguments about sentencing disparities did not rebut the presumption.
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