UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, ┐ Plaintiff-Appellee, │ │ > No. 19-2071 v. │ │ │ PHILIP GORDON PAAUWE, │ Defendant-Appellant. │ ┘

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Michigan at Grand Rapids. No. 1:19-cr-00041-1—Paul Lewis Maloney, District Judge.

Decided and Filed: August 4, 2020

Before: NORRIS, NALBANDIAN, and READLER, Circuit Judges.

_________________

COUNSEL ON BRIEF: Steven D. Jaeger, THE JAEGER FIRM, PLLC, Erlanger, Kentucky, for Appellant. Davin M. Reust, UNITED STATES ATTORNEY’S OFFICE, Grand Rapids, Michigan, for Appellee. _________________

OPINION _________________

CHAD A. READLER, Circuit Judge. Philip Paauwe was sentenced to a 420-month prison term following his guilty plea to Coercion and Enticement of a Minor, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2422(b). The sentencing analysis included application of a five-level enhancement under § 4B1.5(b)(1) of the Sentencing Guidelines due to Paauwe’s pattern of ongoing sexual misconduct. Paauwe argues that application of the enhancement was based on the Guideline’s No. 19-2071 United States v. Paauwe Page 2

administrative commentary, not its text, in violation of our recent holding in United States v. Havis, 927 F.3d 382, 386 (6th Cir. 2019) (en banc) (per curiam). Because Paauwe’s enhancement follows from the plain terms of the Guideline itself, we AFFIRM the judgment of the district court.

BACKGROUND

Upon completing his military service and earning a teaching degree, Paauwe began working as an elementary school teacher for special needs children. Unfortunately, his interest in children with special needs had a deviant dimension.

For more than two years, Paauwe engaged in an online relationship with G.L., an underage special needs girl living several states away. Beginning when G.L. was fifteen years old, Paauwe set forth “rules,” some of which involved sexual acts, by which G.L. had to live her life. When G.L. failed to abide by the “rules,” Paauwe would manipulate her into inflicting “punishment” on herself through various means of self-harm, including cutting herself, sending Paauwe video recordings as proof. Paauwe also described to G.L. his desire to sexually abuse a student. Things took an even darker turn when Paauwe expressed to G.L. his fantasies about murdering a child.

Over the course of the relationship, Paauwe amassed a collection of child pornography depicting G.L. He also recorded an illicit video of a student along with videos of himself masturbating on a school desk and in the school parking lot.

Paauwe’s clandestine activities eventually came to light when he responded to an undercover officer’s sex-related social media post. Using a pseudonym, Paauwe expressed disturbing views about incest and bestiality. The two then struck up an ongoing conversation in private messages across multiple social media and messaging platforms. Paauwe routinely expressed in graphic terms his sexual interest i