[PUBLISH] In the United States Court of Appeals For the Eleventh Circuit

____________________

No. 21-11425 ____________________

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee, versus EDGAR JOHN DAWSON, JR.,

Defendant-Appellant.

____________________

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida D.C. Docket No. 6:20-cr-00077-WWB-GJK-1 ____________________ USCA11 Case: 21-11425 Document: 41-1 Date Filed: 04/05/2023 Page: 2 of 24

2 Opinion of the Court 21-11425

Before WILSON, BRANCH, and LAGOA, Circuit Judges. LAGOA, Circuit Judge: This appeal asks us to determine whether an adult who films himself exposing his genitals and masturbating in the presence of a child where the child is the object of sexual desire in the film “uses” that child to engage in sexually explicit conduct for purposes of 18 U.S.C. § 2251(a). We hold that the above conduct fits squarely within the language of the statute. I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY A. Underlying Facts In July 2020, a federal grand jury indicted Edgar Dawson, Jr. for two counts of distribution of child pornography, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2252A(a)(2) and (b)(1) (“Counts One and Two”), and five counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2251(a) 1 and (e) (“Counts Three through Seven”).

1 Section 2251(a) provides: (a) Any person who employs, uses, persuades, induces, entices, or coerces any minor to engage in, or who has a minor assist any other person to engage in, or who transports any minor in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce, or in any Terri- tory or Possession of the United States, with the intent that such minor engage in, any sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing any visual depiction of such conduct or for the purpose of transmitting a live visual depiction of such conduct, shall be punished as provided under subsection (e), if such person knows or has reason to know that such visual USCA11 Case: 21-11425 Document: 41-1 Date Filed: 04/05/2023 Page: 3 of 24

21-11425 Opinion of the Court 3

The parties stipulated to the following facts related to Counts Three through Seven for the bench trial. In March 2020, FBI Special Agent Robert Schwinger was acting undercover in a Kik chatroom—an online social media application—called “Daugh Fun Time.” 2 In that chatroom, Schwinger observed Dawson post- ing images, videos, and messages, including two images of a fully clothed eleven-year-old girl on an exercise mat. Dawson then posted a video of the same child in the cha- troom. In that video, which formed the basis for Count Three, the child was kneeling on the exercise mat in a yoga pose, with her torso lowered over her knees, her forehead on the ground, and her feet under her buttocks. Dawson was filming her from behind, and he then panned the camera down to show that his penis was ex- posed and erect and that