Page 23 - PCPA Winter 2025 Bulletin Magazine

CHRIS BOYLE'S LEGAL UPDATE:
UNITED STATES V. RONK, 2025 U.S. DIST. LEXIS 214309
18 U.S.C. § 1470 by directing his offense conduct at an
individual who he “believed had not attained the age of 16
years.” Id. at 2.
Defendant argues that the Section 2260A offenses are
legally deficient because the underlying offense conducts
in Counts 1 through 3 did not involve an actual minor, but
an individual believed to be a minor. Thus, Ronk seeks
dismissal [*34] of the Section 2260A charges pursuant
to Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 12(b)(3)(B)(v) for
failure to state an offense.
To date, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals has not
addressed the issues raised by the defendant. After a
review of Section 2260A, and upon consideration of other
circuit-level decisions, Ronk’s motion to dismiss will be
denied.
Standard of Review
Rule 12(b)(3)(B) allows a district court to review the
sufficiency of the government’s pleadings to ensure that
legally deficient charges do not go to a jury. United States v.
Bergrin, 650 F.3d 257, 268 (3d Cir. 2011). In considering the
motion to dismiss, the court must accept as true the factual
allegations set forth in the indictment and consider only the
facts alleged therein. See United States v. Vitillo, 490 F.3d
314, 321 (3d Cir. 2007); United States v. Besmajian, 910
F.2d 1153, 1154 (3d Cir. 1990). Consequently, the court
does not consider matters extraneous to the indictment
offered by the government in its opposition brief. The court
also sets aside all facts made known to the court during
the evidentiary hearing on defendant’s motion to suppress.
Analysis
When registered sex offenders commit certain enumerated
felonies “involving a minor,” Section 2260A establishes
enhanced penalties, i.e., an additional 10 years of
imprisonment. 18 U.S.C. § 2260A. That 10-year sentence
must be served consecutively to any sentence imposed for
the underlying offense. Id.
The felonies enumerated in Section 2260A include
violations of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1470, [*35] 2422, and 2423. Id.
Ronk has been charged with these enumerated offenses in
Counts 1 through 3. In Counts 4 through 6, the government
seeks the enhanced penalties under Section 2260A,
alleging that Ronk has the requisite sex offender status
and that he committed three predicate offenses, in each
earlier count, believing that they involved a minor. (Doc.
1 at 3-5). As charged, Ronk faces decades of additional
imprisonment if found guilty of the underlying violations of
18 U.S.C. §§ 1470, 2422, and 2423.12
In support of his argument that Section 2260A requires
an “actual minor” to be involved in the underlying crimes,
Ronk cites United States v. Dahl, 81 F. Supp. 3d 405 (E.D.
Pa. 2015), a decision from a sister jurisdiction. In Dahl,
the court concluded that “the language ‘involving a minor’
in [Section] 2260A applies only to situations in which a
person under the age of eighteen is involved and not to
situations in which an adult undercover agent is posing as
an underage person.” Id. at 407. The government counters
that Dahl was wrongly decided and their brief in opposition
supplies out-of-circuit decisions supporting their position.
(Doc. 42 at 18). Before addressing Dahl or the other
appellate-level decisions, the court will undertake its own
analysis of 18 U.S.C. § 2260A.
The court begins with the language of the statute itself.
Republic of Sudan v. Harrison, 587 U.S. 1, 8 (2019)
(citations omitted). [*36] Section 2260A provides, in
pertinent part:
Whoever, being required by Federal or other law to
register as a sex offender, commits a felony offense
involving a minor under section... 1470...2242 [or]
2243...shall be sentenced to a term of imprisonment
of 10 years in addition to the imprisonment imposed
for the offense under that provision.
18 U.S.C. §2260A.
Consequently, to establish a violation of Section 2260A,
the government must prove beyond a reasonable doubt
that: 1) an individual is required by law to register as a
sex offender; and 2) that they committed a felony offense
“involving a minor” under the enumerated statutes.
Section 2260A is found within Chapter 110 of Title 18.
For the purposes of Chapter 110, the term “minor” means
“any person under the age of eighteen years[.]” 18 U.S.C.
§ 2256(1). The definition of words in isolation is not
necessarily controlling in statutory construction. Dolan v.
U.S. Postal Serv., 546 U.S. 481, 486 (2006)). Here, the
word “minor,” is one part of a larger participial phrase, that
is, “involving a minor.” In the structure of Section 2260A,
the words “involving a minor” function as an adjective that
modifies “offense” along with word “felony” and the list of
enumerated statutes. Thus, this dispute centers on the
entire participial phrase “involving a minor,” not just the
word “minor.” The word “involving” [*37] in the phrase
“involving a minor” is not defined in the statute.
12 The government does not oppose Ronk’s motion to bifurcate trial on
Counts 4 through 6. (Docs. 35, 35-1).
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WINTER 2025 BULLETIN