Court Opinion

ID: 9895338
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-11-06 19:00:49.08484+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:12:08.166733
License: Public Domain

USCA11 Case: 23-10511    Document: 34-1     Date Filed: 11/06/2023   Page: 1 of 8

                                                  [DO NOT PUBLISH]
                                   In the
                United States Court of Appeals
                        For the Eleventh Circuit

                          ____________________

                                No. 23-10511
                          Non-Argument Calendar
                          ____________________

       UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
                                                      Plaintiﬀ-Appellee,
       versus
       BRADLEY DUANE LONG,

                                                  Defendant-Appellant.

                          ____________________

                 Appeal from the United States District Court
                     for the Southern District of Florida
                   D.C. Docket No. 4:22-cr-10008-KMM-1
                          ____________________
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       2                     Opinion of the Court                23-10511

       Before WILLIAM PRYOR, Chief Judge, and JORDAN and LAGOA, Cir-
       cuit Judges.
       PER CURIAM:
               Bradley Long appeals his convictions and sentence of 210
       months of imprisonment for distributing and possessing child por-
       nography. 18 U.S.C. §§ 2252(a)(2), (a)(4)(B). He challenges the de-
       nial of his motion to suppress and the substantive reasonableness
       of his sentence. We affirm.
              On February 1, 2022, Agent Millard Quad with the Florida
       Department of Law Enforcement was assigned to investigate a
       CyberTip received on January 13, 2022, from the National Center
       for Missing and Exploited Children. The tip stated that 16 images
       and a video containing child pornography had been uploaded to
       the internet through Kik, a messenger application, between De-
       cember 11 and 12, 2021. The tip provided the e-mail address and
       the internet protocol address through which the uploads were
       made. Agent Quad determined that the e-mail address and internet
       protocol address were active and belonged to Long. Agent Quad
       conducted surveillance of the residence and observed a motorcycle
       registered to Long parked in one of the assigned spaces.
             On February 28, 2022, Agent Quad applied for a warrant to
       search the residence for evidence of child pornography. He ex-
       plained that, in his experience, possessors of child pornography of-
       ten maintained electronically-stored collections of these materials
       for many years. On March 3, 2022, officers executed the search
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       23-10511               Opinion of the Court                        3

       warrant. Long’s roommate identified several electronic devices
       that belonged to Long, including an iPad on which agents found
       Long’s Kik account and over 1,000 images of child pornography.
              After a federal grand jury indicted Long for distributing and
       possessing child pornography, id. §§ 2252(a)(2), (a)(4)(B), he moved
       to suppress the evidence seized from his residence. He argued that
       the information supplying probable cause was stale because it was
       based on an isolated occurrence two and a half months earlier and
       there was no evidence of ongoing criminal activity.
              After holding a hearing on the motion, the magistrate judge
       issued a report and recommendation that Long’s motion to sup-
       press be denied. The magistrate judge determined that the infor-
       mation in the search warrant affidavit was not too stale to support
       probable cause because two and a half months was “not unduly
       long” and because forensic examiners would be able to recover any
       hidden, erased, or encrypted files on Long’s devices. The magis-
       trate judge noted that it was “common sense . . . that people who
       obtain and/or share photographs online, whether related to child
       pornography or not, are likely to retain those photographs for fu-
       ture viewing.” And the magistrate judge determined that none of
       the factors precluding reliance on the good-faith exception applied.
       See United States v. Leon, 468 U.S. 897, 921–23 (1984). Long objected
       to the report and recommendation. He argued that warrant was
       based on stale information and that the agents did not act in good
       faith by relying on the search warrant.
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       4                      Opinion of the Court                 23-10511

             The district court denied Long’s motion to suppress and
       adopted the report and recommendation. The district court found
       no clear error in the magistrate judge’s findings and overruled
       Long’s objections as “nothing more than a rehashing of the same
       arguments” raised in his motion to suppress, which the magistrate
       judge had addressed.
               At a bench trial, Long stipulated that the seized iPad be-
       longed to him and contained over 1,000 images of child pornogra-
       phy. He also stipulated that, in 2020, a Kik user messaged him stat-
       ing, “trades” with a winking emoji, to which Long responded with
       three images containing child pornography. In response, the Kik
       user sent Long three images of child pornography. The district
       court found Long guilty of both counts.
              Long’s presentence investigation report provided a com-
       bined total offense level of 38, a criminal history category of I, and
       an advisory guideline range of 235 to 293 months of imprisonment.
       In addition to his base offense level of 22, United States Sentencing
       Guidelines Manual § 2G2.2(a)(2) (Nov. 2021), the report applied a
       two-level increase because the materials involved prepubescent
       minors, id. § 2G2.2(b)(2); a five-level increase because he distrib-
       uted child pornography for valuable consideration, which was ac-
       cess to other child pornography, id. § 2G2.2(b)(3)(B); a four-level
       increase because the material was sadistic and portrayed sexual
       abuse or exploitation of infants and toddlers, id. § 2G2.2(b)(4)(B); a
       two-level increase because the offense involved a computer, id.
       § 2G2.2(b)(6); and a five-level increase because the offense involved
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       23-10511               Opinion of the Court                         5

       more than 600 images of child pornography, id. § 2G2.2(b)(7)(D).
       The report applied a two-level reduction for accepting responsibil-
       ity because he proceeded to a bench trial to assert and preserve is-
       sues not relating to his factual guilt, id. § 3E1.1(a).
              Long lodged several objections and requested a downward
       variance to a sentence of 60 months of imprisonment due to the
       physical, verbal, and sexual abuse he experienced as a child and his
       psychological assessment stating he had a relatively low risk of sex-
       ually recidivating. He also argued that he was entitled to a
       third-level reduction for accepting responsibility, id. § 3E1.1(b).
              At sentencing, the district court sustained only Long’s ac-
       ceptance-of-responsibility objection, id., which reduced his total of-
       fense level to 37 and his advisory guideline range to 210 to 262
       months of imprisonment. Regarding the statutory sentencing fac-
       tors, 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a), Long argued that his advisory guideline
       range was “horrific” for a first offender and military veteran. He
       argued that, despite his abusive childhood, he had maintained con-
       sistent employment and healthy relationships, and his family was
       supportive of him. Long allocuted and apologized for his conduct.
               The government responded that Long’s own abuse was no
       excuse for harming others by possessing over 1,000 images of child
       pornography, many of which depicted infants and toddlers and sa-
       distic material, and by distributing child pornography to others.
       The government added that, although Long’s daughter denied sex-
       ual abuse, he began supplying her with alcohol and drugs starting
       at five years old and had bragged about incest in Kik messages.
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       6                      Opinion of the Court                  23-10511

               After considering the statutory sentencing factors, id., the
       district court found that a downward variance was unwarranted
       and sentenced Long to 210 months of imprisonment. The district
       court explained that it had considered Long’s history and charac-
       teristics, the instant offense conduct, and the need to promote re-
       spect for the law and deterrence.
               Two standards of review govern this appeal. In reviewing
       the denial of a motion to suppress, we review findings of fact for
       clear error and the application of law to those facts de novo. United
       States v. Barsoum, 763 F.3d 1321, 1328 (11th Cir. 2014). We review
       the reasonableness of a sentence for abuse of discretion. Gall v.
       United States, 552 U.S. 38, 51 (2007). We will disturb “the sentence
       if, but only if, we are left with the definite and firm conviction that
       the district court committed a clear error of judgment in weighing
       the § 3553(a) factors by arriving at a sentence that lies outside the
       range of reasonable sentences dictated by the facts of the case.”
       United States v. Irey, 612 F.3d 1160, 1189 (11th Cir. 2010) (en banc)
       (internal quotation marks omitted).
              Long argues that the district court erred in denying his mo-
       tion to suppress because any probable cause supporting the war-
       rant had dissipated in the two and a half months between the up-
       load and the issuance of the warrant. The “staleness doctrine . . . re-
       quires that the information supporting the government’s applica-
       tion for a warrant must show that probable cause exists at the time
       the warrant issues.” United States v. Bervaldi, 226 F.3d 1256, 1264
       (11th Cir. 2000). To determine whether the supporting information
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       23-10511                Opinion of the Court                           7

       is stale, we do not apply arbitrary time limits. United States v. Harris,
       20 F.3d 445, 450 (11th Cir. 1994). Instead, we consider the particular
       facts of the case, the nature of the suspected crime, the character of
       the items sought, the habits of the accused, and the nature and
       function of the area to be searched. Id.
              The district court correctly ruled that the information sup-
       porting probable cause was not stale. We have rejected staleness
       challenges in similar appeals because “pedophiles rarely, if ever,
       dispose of child pornography.” United States v. Touset, 890 F.3d
       1227, 1238 (11th Cir. 2018) (quoting United States v. Zimmerman, 277
       F.3d 426, 434 (3d Cir. 2002)). Indeed, “probable cause of involve-
       ment in electronic child pornography remains even longer because
       deleted files can remain on electronic devices.” Id. (rejecting a stale-
       ness argument where the defendant’s electronic devices were
       searched over a year and a half after he made suspicious online pay-
       ments suggesting his involvement in child pornography). And, in
       any event, Long raises no argument about the good-faith excep-
       tion, which provides an independent basis for affirming. See
       Sapuppo v. Allstate Floridian Ins. Co., 739 F.3d 678, 680 (11th Cir.
       2014).
              The district court also did not abuse its discretion in sentenc-
       ing Long to a term of imprisonment at the low end of the advisory
       guidelines range. Long argues that his sentence is greater than nec-
       essary. But the district court weighed the statutory sentencing fac-
       tors, 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a), and determined that, despite Long’s abu-
       sive childhood and lack of criminal history, a lower sentence would
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       8                      Opinion of the Court                  23-10511

       not provide sufficient punishment and deterrence or adequately re-
       flect the serious nature of his offense conduct. The “decision about
       how much weight to assign a particular sentencing factor is com-
       mitted to the sound discretion of the district court.” United States v.
       Rosales-Bruno, 789 F.3d 1249, 1254 (11th Cir. 2015) (quotation
       marks omitted). Long’s sentence is reasonable.
              We AFFIRM Long’s convictions and sentence.