No. 21-1612

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

Appellee,

v.

JONATHAN MONSON,

Defendant, Appellant.

APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS

[Hon. Mark G. Mastroianni, U.S. District Judge]

Before

Barron, Chief Judge, Lipez and Howard, Circuit Judges.

Jin-Ho King, with whom Milligan Rona Duran & King, LLC., was on brief, for appellant. Mark T. Quinlivan, Assistant United States Attorney, with whom Rachael S. Rollins, United States Attorney, was on brief, for appellee.

June 26, 2023

- 1 - HOWARD, Circuit Judge. A jury convicted Jonathan Monson on fifteen counts of an indictment charging sexual exploitation of children and distribution, receipt, and possession of child pornography. He was sentenced to 480 months' incarceration. On appeal, Monson challenges the admission of certain evidence against him at his trial, the sufficiency of the evidence against him, and his sentence. Concluding that each challenge is unavailing, we affirm.

I. BACKGROUND1

In 2017, while participating in an undercover capacity in a Kik Messenger ("Kik")2 group named "Taboo Train 2.0," an FBI agent observed not only that the group's discussion focused on child pornography but also that one of the group's members was distributing child pornography to the group. That user, whose screen name consisted of four emoticons followed by the name "john (daddauluv_r6n@talk.kik.com)," transmitted five images constituting child pornography to the group.3 Suspicious that

In assessing the sufficiency claim, we recount the facts in 1 the light most favorable to the verdict. United States v. Burgos- Montes, 786 F.3d 92, 98 (1st Cir. 2015). For the suppression of evidence claim, we offer a balanced account. Id.; United States v. Piper, 298 F.3d 47, 50 (1st Cir. 2002). Kik is a cloud-based social media application that permits 2 users to anonymously share text and multi-media messages with one another, both one-on-one and in group chats. 3 Those five images formed the bases for Counts 5-9.

- 2 - Monson was the user distributing the child pornography, agents obtained search warrants for Monson, his residence in Granby, Massachusetts, and his vehicles.

In March 2018, FBI agents and local law enforcement officers, armed and dressed in tactical gear, went to Monson's home to execute the search warrant. During the execution of the warrant, FBI Special Agent Ian Smythe expressed his desire to speak with Monson, told Monson "that they perhaps would be better off finding a place with less activity" to speak, and informed Monson that he was neither in custody nor under arrest. Monson agreed to accompany the agents to the Granby Public Safety Complex, a community building which housed both the Granby police station and fire station, and to speak with Smythe there. At the public safety complex, Smythe and Special Agent Michael Sheehan led Monson to a public conference room that was in the building's lobby -- not in the section of the building designated as the police station -- where they then interviewed him. Smythe advised Monson of his Miranda rights and Monson signed a form acknowledging that he understood those rights and was willing to answer questions without a lawyer present.

During the interrogation, Monson made a number of admissions including: that he had an eleven-year-old d