United States v. Eric Streng

MEMORANDUM

1. The district court did not abuse its discretion by applying the vulnerable-victim enhancement pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 3A1.1(b)(1). The court properly found, under the circumstances surrounding Eric Strang's crime, that younger children were members of a particularly vulnerable class due to their age and status. Strang argues that younger children are not particularly vulnerable when there has been no charge of production, but we have squarely rejected that contention in the past. See United States v. Lynn, 636 F.3d 1127, 1138-39 (9th Cir.2011); United States v. Holt, 610 F.3d 1007, 1011-12 (9th Cir.2007). The court correctly found, based on Strang’s statements, that he knew or should have known of the younger children’s unusual vulnerability. Strang admitted to federal agents that he possessed “quite a bit” of graphic content portraying children five to ten years old and younger.

2. The district court did not commit procedural error in sentencing Strang to 180 months in prison. Although the court did not explicitly state at the sentencing hearing that it used the 240-month statutory maximum as a departure point, that figure was included in the pre-sentence report,…