UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT

┐ UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, │ Plaintiff-Appellee, │ > No. 22-5600 │ v. │ │ ERIC LAVELL MINTER, │ Defendant-Appellant. │ ┘

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky at Ashland. No. 0:17-cr-00010-5—David L. Bunning, District Judge.

Argued: August 2, 2023

Decided and Filed: August 31, 2023

Before: STRANCH, BUSH, and MURPHY, Circuit Judges. _________________

COUNSEL ARGUED: Maryam Assar, CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY, Cleveland, Ohio, for Appellant. John Patrick Grant, UNITED STATES ATTORNEY’S OFFICE, Lexington, Kentucky, for Appellee. ON BRIEF: Maryam Assar, Andrew S. Pollis, CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY, Cleveland, Ohio, for Appellant. John Patrick Grant, Charles P. Wisdom, Jr., UNITED STATES ATTORNEY’S OFFICE, Lexington, Kentucky, for Appellee. _________________

OPINION _________________

JOHN K. BUSH, Circuit Judge. Eric Minter pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute heroin. He appeals the district court’s enhancements of his sentence for acting as a manager or supervisor of the conspiracy and for constructive possession of a firearm. For reasons discussed below, we hold that both enhancements were proper and AFFIRM the district court’s sentence. No. 22-5600 United States v. Minter Page 2

I.

On August 28, 2017, the Ohio State Highway Patrol seized four vacuum-sealed packages during a routine traffic stop of two drug couriers, Kimberly Moore and James Saunders. Field testing revealed the packages contained around 431 grams of heroin. Following the positive field test results, officers arrested the couriers. They told police they had planned to deliver their load to Minter in Huntington, West Virginia.

Instead, law enforcement took the couriers to the police station, where the FBI Drug Task Force took over the investigation. Interviews revealed that Moore and Saunders were returning from making a cash delivery to, and heroin pickup from, Leonard Wright in Detroit, Michigan. A search of the couriers’ cell phones revealed Minter had paid them in either cash or drugs, or both, to deliver the money to Wright and return with drugs. After delivery of the heroin to Minter, the plan was for him to distribute it.

On the same day that Moore and Saunders were arrested and questioned, members of the FBI Drug Task Force followed up by obtaining and executing a search warrant for Minter’s residence. There they recovered traces of heroin, scales, and about $18,000 in cash. As a result, Minter was arrested and charged with state offenses related to conspiracy to traffic in drugs.

Moore and Saunders revealed in their interviews with detectives that they had made similar journeys between Wright and Minter in the past. According to Moore, Minter introduced her to Wright during an earlier delivery trip. Moore explained that Wright was “in charge,” as the main leader of the operation, and that he set the amount she