No. 21-3355 ___________________________

United States of America

Plaintiff - Appellee

v.

Luis Alfredo Moreira-Bravo

Defendant - Appellant ____________

Appeal from United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa - Eastern ____________

Submitted: June 15, 2022 Filed: December 27, 2022 ____________ Before GRUENDER, BENTON, and GRASZ, Circuit Judges. ____________ GRUENDER, Circuit Judge.

Luis Alfredo Moreira-Bravo pleaded guilty to transporting a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2423(a) after the district court 1 denied his motion in limine. He appeals that denial, and we affirm.

1 The Honorable Stephanie M. Rose, Chief Judge, United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa. I.

In May 2020, twenty-six-year-old Moreira-Bravo drove from Minnesota to Iowa to meet with fourteen-year-old R.M. Moreira-Bravo and R.M. had sex in Moreira-Bravo’s car, drove to Minnesota, and had sex again. R.M. never told Moreira-Bravo that she was under eighteen. She instead told him that she was at least nineteen years old. On May 7, officers observed Moreira-Bravo and R.M. together and arrested Moreira-Bravo. When questioned, he claimed that he believed R.M. was nineteen years old.

Moreira-Bravo was indicted for transporting a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity under 18 U.S.C. § 2423(a). He filed a motion in limine asking the district court to instruct the jury that § 2423(a) required the Government to prove that (1) he knew R.M. was underage and (2) he intended the unlawful nature of the sexual activity. The district court denied the motion. Moreira-Bravo conditionally pleaded guilty while reserving his right to appeal the denial of his motion in limine. See Fed. R. Crim. P. 11(a)(2). In his plea agreement, Moreira- Bravo stipulated that he transported R.M. from Iowa to Minnesota intending to engage in sexual activity with her, that they engaged in sexual activity upon arrival in Minnesota, and that he was more than 120 months older than fourteen-year-old R.M. at the time. To satisfy the § 2423(a) element of “intent that the [transported] individual engage in . . . sexual activity for which any person can be charged with a criminal offense,” the agreement named the Minnesota state offense of criminal sexual conduct in the third degree, which at the time criminalized intercourse with a victim between thirteen and sixteen years old by a person more than twenty-four months older. See Minn. Stat. § 609.344, subd. 1(b) (2019), amended by Minn. Stat. § 609.344, subd. 1a(b) (2021). Mistake of age was no defense to a violation of section 609.344 if the defendant was more than 120 months older than the victim. Id.

-2- II.

“We review questions of statutory interpretation de novo.” United States v. Schostag, 895 F.3d 1025, 1027 (8th Cir. 2018). Section 2423(a) states:

A person who knowingly transports an individual who has not attained the age of 18 years in interstate or foreign commerce, or in any commonwealth, territory or possession of the United States, with intent that the individual engage in prostitution, or in any sexual activity for which any person can be charged with a criminal offense, shall be fined under this title and imprisoned not less than 10 years or for life. This case concerns the two mens rea req