United States v. Kenneth J. Raney

342 F.3d 551, 2003 U.S. App. LEXIS 17048, 2003 WL 21976987
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
DecidedAugust 20, 2003
Docket02-2086
StatusPublished
Cited by52 cases

This text of 342 F.3d 551 (United States v. Kenneth J. Raney) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Kenneth J. Raney, 342 F.3d 551, 2003 U.S. App. LEXIS 17048, 2003 WL 21976987 (7th Cir. 2003).

Opinions

KANNE, Circuit Judge.

On the spring afternoon of June 13, 2001, thirty-eight-year-old Kenneth J. Ra-ney pulled his gray station wagon into the parking lot of a McDonald’s restaurant in Forest Park, Illinois. He parked the car, walked inside the restaurant to a pay phone, and called a fourteen-year-old girl named “Dena” to tell her that he was there, waiting for her. He and Dena had been exchanging e-mails for the past three months at an Internet chatroom entitled, in relevant part, “I LOVE OLDER MEN.” Raney believed that Dena was a young virgin, who wanted to have sex with him and was willing to let him take photographs of the acts.

Fortunately, Dena was only a figment of Raney’s imagination, conjured up by Cook County (Illinois) deputy sheriff William Plahm, who had played the role of Dena during the three-month Internet exchange, and deputy sheriff Janet Montecelo, who had posed as Dena in some photographs that Officer Plahm had e-mailed to Raney and who on occasion had answered Ra-ney’s telephone calls to Dena.

Raney and Dena had begun chatting on April 24, 2001. Officer Plahm, identifying himself by the username “ilgirl4u” entered the “I LOVE OLDER MEN” chatroom and was immediately contacted by Raney, who, employing the username “masterice-man,” requested a private communication. During this first chat, Raney claimed to be “Ken,” a thirty-eight-year-old man from southern Wisconsin. After learning that the user “ilgirl4u” was claiming to be “Dena, a fourteen-year-old-girl from Forest Park, Illinois,” Raney asked her, “What do you like to do with older men?” When Dena replied that she was a virgin, Raney offered to teach her personally about sexual intercourse and oral sex. To preempt any concerns she might have about pregnancy, he informed Dena, “I’m surgically safe ... have a vacectamy [sic].” (Tr. at 46.)

Over the next several months, Raney tried to convince Dena to meet with him to have sexual intercourse and perform fellatio on him. He sent Dena nude pictures of himself. Officer Plahm, in turn, sent Ra-ney pictures of Officer Montecelo, clothed, posing as Dena. Receipt of these pictures prompted Raney to inquire, “You have any not covering yourself up?” (Tr. at 60.) Officer Plahm also gave Raney an undercover telephone number to contact Dena to arrange for a meeting. When he called, Officer Montecelo answered and she agreed to meet Raney at the McDonald’s parking lot on April 28, 2001. Dena later e-mailed Raney to postpone that meeting.

A number of the communications between Raney and Dena discussed Raney’s desire to take sexually explicit photographs of her. When discussing the prospect of engaging in sexual intercourse and oral sex with her, Raney asked Dena, “you want me to take some pics of you when we are doing it?” He told her he’d “like to [554]*554take some of you nude and sucking me .... ” (Tr. at 98,100.)-

Over e-mail on June 7 and 11, 2001, Raney and Dena made plans to meet on June 13 at the McDonald’s in Forest Park. Dena asked Raney whether he planned on bringing his camera with him to their meeting. Raney initially declined but then relented, saying “good, take some nudes then to [sic]” and “good, take a pic of you sucking me to [sic] and when I fuck you you’ll have a pic to see that, how many girls can say that.” (Tr. at 104.) Raney and Dena had two additional on-line communications regarding their planned June 13 meeting.

That morning, Raney and Dena e-mailed each other one last time before their scheduled rendezvous. Raney asked Dena if she still wanted him to bring his camera. Dena replied, “If you want to, sure,” to which Raney said, “I have to stop and get some film.” (Tr. at 111.)

When Raney placed the call at McDonald’s, it was Officer Montecelo who answered and told him that she, Dena, was on her way. Raney then returned to his car in the parking lot to wait for Dena. A short time later, Officer Montecelo walked up to Raney’s car. When Raney suggested that she get in the car with him, Monte-celo identified herself as a police officer and other officers lying in wait converged upon the car to arrest Raney.

After his arrest, Raney signed written consent forms authorizing agents to search his car, residence, computer, and on-line computer accounts for materials “in the nature of’ child abuse, child exploitation, and child erotica. From his station wagon, police recovered a pair of swim trunks, a condom, sexual lubricant, a camera loaded with film, and an empty Kodak film box.

From his residence in Janesville, Wisconsin, police discovered and seized a large stack of photographs, which included photos of homemade amateur pornography depicting a naked Raney engaging in sex acts (sexual intercourse and oral sex) with an adult female. That female was later identified as Raney’s ex-wife. Also in the stack were photos of clothed children, later identified as Raney’s sons.

Police confiscated Raney’s computer. Postal Inspector Ronald Redus would later conduct a forensic analysis of its hard drive, which would reveal numerous images of child pornography as well as a scanned naked photo of Raney, which he had e-mailed to Dena, several additional pieces of Raney’s homemade pornography, and the photographs of Officer Montecelo, which Raney had believed to be of Dena.

Back at the scene of his arrest, Raney was advised of his constitutional rights. He signed a written Miranda waiver and agreed to discuss his case. The police then showed Raney copies of all the on-line communications between Raney and Dena that they had monitored.

Raney acknowledged to his arresting officers that he participated in these on-line communications as “mastericeman.” Ra-ney stated that in April 2001, he began corresponding with a person he believed to be a fourteen-year-old girl named Dena. He stated that he talked explicitly with Dena about meeting her and the possibility of the two having sex. He further admitted that he had traveled that day from Janesville, Wisconsin to Forest Park, Illinois in order to meet with Dena. He claimed, however, that his purpose in meeting her was to talk her out of having sex with him. He nonetheless admitted that had his efforts at persuasion proven unsuccessful, he might have succumbed to temptation. He also admitted to possessing four or five “father-daughter video clips,” which he had obtained over the Internet.

[555]*555Raney was indicted by a federal grand jury on one count of traveling in interstate commerce for the purpose of engaging in a sexual act with a minor, see 18 U.S.C. § 2423(b) (2003), and one count of attempted manufacture of child pornography, see 18 U.S.C. § 2251(a) & (e) (2003).1

At trial, Officers Plahm and Montecelo and Inspector Redus testified regarding their knowledge of Raney’s ermail and telephone communications with Dena and the materials recovered from his computer’s hard drive. The government introduced into evidence all the on-line communications between Raney and Dena, including the photographs that the two had exchanged. It also introduced the evidence found in Raney’s car, which included the camera, film, empty film box, condom and sexual lubricant.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
342 F.3d 551, 2003 U.S. App. LEXIS 17048, 2003 WL 21976987, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-kenneth-j-raney-ca7-2003.