United States v. Grovo

Defendants Grovo and Petersen challenge aspects of their convictions for charges related to their roles in an online bulletin board dedicated to discussing and exchanging child pornography. The court held that the evidence was sufficient to convict defendants for engaging in a child exploitation enterprise, and for conspiracy to advertise child pornography. The definition of “advertisement” under 18 U.S.C. 2251(d) presents a question of first impression in this circuit. Assuming without deciding that an “advertisement” under section 2251(d) requires some public component, the court held that advertising to a particular subset of the public is sufficient to sustain a conviction under the statute. The court emphasized that the district court's apportioning loss between defendants was sound under United States v. Paroline. Accordingly, the court affirmed defendants' convictions. The court vacated the district court’s restitution order and remanded to allow the district court to disaggregate the portion of the victim’s losses caused by the original abuse from those attributable to continued viewing of her image, consistent with the rule announced in United States v. Galan. View "United States v. Grovo" on Justia Law