## Facts

- A 38-year-old man living in New York communicated online and by phone with a 13-year-old girl in Maryland and arranged to meet her.
- After two failed meeting attempts in Maryland, he later met the girl, drove her to a Maryland motel, and brought her to his room.
- In the motel room, he provided alcohol to the girl, set up a video camera, and engaged in sexually explicit conduct in view of the camera.
- The girl later refused to return to the motel and reported him to authorities.
- Police searched the motel room with his consent and found video equipment, alcohol, and condoms.
- Agents executed a warrant at his New York residence and seized numerous child-pornography images and a videotape of the motel encounter.
- A federal jury convicted him of, among other offenses, sexual exploitation of a child under 18 U.S.C. § 2251(a) and obtaining custody or control of a minor for purposes of producing a visual depiction under 18 U.S.C. § 2251A(b)(2).
- The district court imposed sentence enhancements on the § 2251(a) count and a 20-year mandatory minimum on the § 2251A(b)(2) count.

## Issues

1. Whether “purchases or otherwise obtains custody or control of a minor” in 18 U.S.C. § 2251A(b)(2) is limited to parent- or guardian-like custody, excluding temporary control obtained to exploit a minor.
2. Whether any ambiguity in § 2251A(b)(2) required application of the rule of lenity.
3. Whether the interstate-commerce element and related sentencing enhancements under 18 U.S.C. § 2251(a) were satisfied and constitutionally permissible.

## Decision

- The Fourth Circuit affirmed the convictions and sentence.
- The court held that § 2251A(b)(2) is not limited to formal or long-term custodial relationships and can cover temporary custody or control obtained with intent to film sexually explicit conduct.
- The court concluded the evidence supported that the defendant obtained custody or control of the minor by transporting her to and keeping her in the motel room to record sexually explicit conduct.
- The court rejected the rule of lenity because the statute, read with ordinary interpretive tools, did not present a grievous ambiguity.
- The court upheld the § 2251(a) conviction and related sentencing determinations, concluding the jurisdictional interstate-commerce hook was adequate and supported by the evidence.

## Legal Principles

- Under 18 U.S.C. § 2251A(b)(2), “otherwise obtains custody or control” encompasses obtaining physical dominion or decision-making power over a minor, even temporarily, when done with intent to facilitate sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing a visual depiction.
- Courts will not add a parent/guardian limitation to “custody or control” absent statutory text imposing that limitation.
- The rule of lenity applies only after exhausting ordinary tools of statutory construction and only where there remains a grievous ambiguity.
- For 18 U.S.C. § 2251(a), Congress may regulate production of child pornography with an express interstate-commerce nexus, and proof satisfying that jurisdictional element supports federal jurisdiction and related sentencing consequences.

## Conclusion

The Fourth Circuit sustained the defendant’s child-exploitation convictions and sentence, interpreting § 2251A(b)(2) to reach temporary control of a minor obtained to create sexually explicit recordings and declining to apply lenity where the statute’s meaning was sufficiently clear.


United States v. Buculei, 262 F.3d 322 (4th Cir. 2001)