Scott
United States v. Scott
Opinion
lead Opinion
MEMORANDUM *
Joseph Scott, Jr. and Edwena Lee Dorsey appeal from their within-Guidelines sentences following their guilty-plea convictions of bringing illegal aliens into the United States without presentation and aiding and abetting, in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1324 (a)(2)(B)(iii) and 18 U.S.C. § 2 . We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 , and we affirm.
Scott challenges the district court’s application of a two-level upward adjustment under U.S.S.G. § 3B1.4 for the use of a minor to commit the crime of smuggling aliens. We cannot say that the district court plainly erred in finding that § 3B1.4 applied. The district court found that Scott, who drove a vehicle smuggling aliens from Mexico to the United States with Dorsey’s three minor children in the rear passenger seats and lied to a Customs and Border Protection officer that he was taking his children to school, was using the children to cover up the illegal activity. See United States v. Castro-Hernandez, 258 F.3d 1057, 1060 (9th Cir.2001) (explaining that § 3B1.4 can be applied for “inten *654 tionally using a minor as an innocent decoy”).