In United States v. Scheu, --- F.4th ---, No. 22-10044 (9th Cir. 2023), the Court affirmed the defendant's sentence for aggravated sexual abuse of a child in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 2241(c), 2246(2), & 1152, in a case in which the district court applied a four-level enhancement under U.S.S.G. § 2A3.1(b)(5) because “the victim was abducted.”
The Court held that the victim was “abducted” when the defendant forced her from the roadside into a nearby cornfield to perpetrate the sexual assault. This was true under both the plain meaning of the word abducted and under the definition in the Guidelines commentary.
