No. 19-2065

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

Appellee,

v.

ALEXANDER GREAUX-GOMEZ,

Defendant, Appellant.

APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF PUERTO RICO

[Hon. Francisco A. Besosa, U.S. District Judge]

Before

Lynch and Kayatta, Circuit Judges, and Laplante,* District Judge.

Victor A. Ramos-Rodriguez, Johnny Rivera-Gonzalez, and Wilfredo Diaz-Narvaez, on brief, for appellant. W. Stephen Muldrow, United States Attorney, Mariana E. Bauza- Almonte, Assistant United States Attorney, Chief, Appellate Division, and Julia M. Meconiates, Assistant United States Attorney, on brief, for appellee.

* Of the District of New Hampshire, sitting by designation. October 27, 2022

- 2 - LAPLANTE, District Judge. Following lengthy pre-trial litigation, including motions to suppress and dismiss, a jury convicted Alexander Greaux-Gomez of enticement of a 15-year-old minor for unlawful sexual activity in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2422(b) and transportation of a minor to engage in criminal sexual activity in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2423(a). Additional post-verdict litigation ensued, which the district court resolved in the government's favor. Greaux appeals, asserting numerous challenges to the criminal judgment, mostly related to the district court's evidentiary rulings and the sufficiency of the evidence supporting his conviction. Finding no merit to Greaux's challenges, we affirm. In doing so, we hold that a defendant could be found to persuade, entice, or induce a victim in violation of Section 2422 notwithstanding purported evidence that the victim agreed to engage in sexual activity. I. Background

"We typically recite those facts relevant to sufficiency claims and challenges to a denial of a motion to suppress in the light most favorable to the verdict or to the district court's ruling." United States v. Burgos-Montes, 786 F.3d 92, 99 (1st Cir. 2015). "For other issues, such as claims of prejudicial error, we offer a balanced treatment, in which we objectively view the evidence of record." Id. (quotations and citation omitted). Because "we cannot simultaneously recite the facts in both manners,

- 3 - we limit our initial summary . . . to those details essential to framing the issues on appeal," id., and "describe other facts, where necessary, in the appropriate discussions of [Greaux's] challenges." United States v. Brown, 945 F.3d 597, 599 n.1 (1st Cir. 2019).

In 2016, Greaux was a 39-year-old teacher and athletic coach at the Albergue Olímpico ("Albergue"), a school in Salinas, Puerto Rico that specializes in sports education. Greaux met the victim, JFR,1 while she was a student at the Albergue.2 When JFR was 15 and in tenth grade, Greaux was her track-and-field coach and teacher. Their relationship became more personal, and later, sexual, and Greaux abused his position of authority to entice JFR for unlawful sexual activity. Greaux eventually had oral and vaginal sex with JFR, who at 15 was too young to legally consent, at the school, in his vehicle, and in a vacant home in Cayey, Puerto Rico that Greaux had used as a homeschool. To get to the vacant homeschool in Cayey, JFR would arrange for her mother to drop her off at a supermarket in Cayey, and then Greaux would pick her up and take her to the home. The victim's mother did not know

1 Although she was 18 at the time of trial, we refer to the victim by her initials, JFR. 2 Students reside on the Albergue campus during the week, but they can return home on the weekends. JFR lived in Cidra, Puerto Rico during her sophomore year at Albergue.