No. 24-1062

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Appellee,

v.

ADMILSON PIRES, a/k/a Mikey,

Defendant, Appellant.

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

[Hon. Leo T. Sorokin, U.S. District Judge]

Before

Gelpí, Kayatta, and Aframe, Circuit Judges.

Christine DeMaso, Assistant Federal Public Defender, for appellant.

Karen Eisenstadt, Assistant United States Attorney, with whom Joshua S. Levy, Acting United States Attorney, was on brief, for appellee.

May 28, 2025 GELPÍ, Circuit Judge. Following a four-day trial, a jury convicted Defendant-Appellant Admilson Pires ("Pires") of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of a minor in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1594(c) (Count I) and sex trafficking of a minor in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1591(a)(1) and (b)(2) (Count II). Pires appealed, arguing that the evidence was insufficient to support his conspiracy conviction and that various alleged trial errors -- namely, the erroneous admission of expert testimony and certain statements by the government during summation -- tainted the verdict. For the reasons explained below, we affirm.

I. BACKGROUND

On August 1, 2019, Norwood Police Department ("Norwood PD") received a tip that Daisy -- a missing sixteen-year-old girl -- was located, and being used for prostitution, at an apartment in Norwood, Massachusetts. At the apartment, Norwood PD officers found two women: the resident, Kathleen Burke ("Burke"), and a woman who claimed to be a twenty-year-old named "Melissa." Moments into the encounter, Norwood PD officers saw that "Melissa" matched the photo on Daisy's missing person's notice, and after a few minutes of conversing, "Melissa" provided officers with her real name: Daisy.

After conversing some more with Burke and Daisy, Norwood PD officers were given consent to search Burke's cell phone. They then brought Daisy and Burke separately to the Norwood PD station,

- 2 - where Daisy told officers, among other things, that she had been engaging in commercial sex. During Daisy's interview with Norwood PD officers, Burke's cell phone received several phone calls and text messages from two contacts -- "Eli 2" and "Mikey" -- who were later identified as Sandro Rosa ("Eli")1 and Pires, respectively. At 4:24 p.m., Pires texted, "Hey, w[h]at happened to Mellisa [sic]," and about three hours later, Eli texted, "you fuck me over [K]athy [(Burke)] every[]time." After interviewing Daisy, Norwood PD officers returned her to her mother.

On December 9, 2020, a federal grand jury returned a two-count indictment against Pires, charging him with conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of a minor in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1594(c) and sex trafficking of a minor in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1591(a)(1) and (b)(2). Trial commenced on September 18, 2023, and lasted four days. Eight witnesses testified, and when all was said and done, the jury convicted Pires of both offenses. In January 2024, the district court sentenced Pires to a term of 132 months' imprisonment on Count I and 132 months' imprisonment on Count II, to be served consecutively. Pires appealed.

The resolution of the instant appeal centers on the testimony of three witnesses -- Daisy, Burke, and FBI Special Agent Daniel Garrabrant ("SA Garrabrant") -- and the parties'

1 Daisy knew Rosa only as Eli, and so that is how she referred to him. Here, too, we refer to Rosa as Eli.

- 3 - sta