U.S. v. Julian

• Decision Date: 24 October 2005
• Docket Number: No. 04-1574.,04-1574.
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Timothy J. JULIAN, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

427 F.3d 471

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Timothy J. JULIAN, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 04-1574.

United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit.

Argued May 4, 2005.

Decided October 24, 2005.

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Diane L. Berkowitz (argued), Office of United States Attorney, Hammond, IN, for Plaintiff-Appellee.

Clark W. Holesinger (argued), Portage, IN, for Defendant-Appellant.

Before RIPPLE, ROVNER, and WOOD, Circuit Judges.

ILANA DIAMOND ROVNER, Circuit Judge.

A jury convicted defendant-appellant Timothy Julian of conspiring to travel in foreign commerce with the intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2423(b) and (e), and of aiding and abetting the transportation of an individual in foreign commerce with the intent that the individual engage in prostitution, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 2 and 2421. The district court sentenced him to a prison term of 300 months, the statutory maximum term. We affirm Julian's convictions and sentence.

I.

As this case comes to us following Julian's conviction by a jury, we are obliged to view the trial evidence in a light favorable to the government. E.g., United States v. Carraway, 108 F.3d 745, 750 (7th Cir.1997) (per curiam).

In November of 1997, Timothy Julian made the acquaintance of Robert Decker while vacationing in Acapulco, Mexico. Decker lived in Acapulco but, like Julian, hailed from the United States. Decker also shared in common with Julian a sexual interest in young boys; both men, in fact, previously had been convicted of child molestation. Julian and Decker decided to embark on an entrepreneurial venture in so-called "sex tourism" in Acapulco by creating a guest house and safe haven for pedophiles, who were sometimes referred to by the witnesses in this case as "boy lovers," meaning men who liked to engage in sexual acts with male children. Julian, who was unhappy with his work and life in the United States, hoped eventually to move to Acapulco and manage the hotel full-time. Pending Julian's relocation, the men agreed that Decker, who could read and speak Spanish, would manage the hotel, while Julian would take responsibility for funding the operations of the hotel, advertising, and booking its guests.

To get the business off the ground, the men found a mansion to rent on Privada de La Marina in Acapulco which they named Castille Vista del Mar (hereinafter, "CVM"). CVM had six bedrooms, a gymnasium, a pool, and (as its name suggests) a view of the ocean. At one time, it was part of the estate owned by William Boyd, the American actor who brought to life novelist Clarence Mulford's cowboy hero Hopalong Cassidy on the silver screen in the 1930s and 40s. Julian helped to choose the property and negotiate the terms of the lease but had to return to the States before the lease was ready to sign, so Decker signed the lease agreement for both of them. Decker signed the lease as Roberto Compos Lopez, a pseudonym; and Decker made a notation next to Julian's name indicating that he was also signing the lease for Julian with Julian's power of attorney. The lease identified both Decker (as Compos) and Julian as tenants of the property; and it was to run for a period of one year: January 28, 1998 to January 28, 1999. Julian paid the deposit of approximately $3,600 on the property; he also gave Decker an ATM card for an account he held at LaSalle Bank in Illinois to enable Decker to make rental payments on the property and to fund the day-to-day expenses of the resort.

To round up customers for the hotel, Julian created a website (to which he had the sole access code), designed internet advertisements, and engaged in personal solicitation. One of the advertisements featured a 12 year-old boy along with an announcement that "escorts" were provided for guests of the resort. Decker testified that in paying for their visits to the resort, guests would initially make a deposit to Julian's bank account in the United States and pay the remainder either before or upon their arrival in Mexico.

To "staff" the hotel, Decker and Julian recruited boys from the beaches and town square of Acapulco. The boys ranged in age from seven to 18 years old and were from throughout Mexico. Decker testified that it was "[e]xtremely easy" to recruit these boys. Feb. 10, 2003 Tr. (Decker excerpt) at 26. Some had run away from troubled homes, while others were altogether homeless. They were lured to CVM with promises of shelter, food, and other benefits. Soon after arriving at the hotel, however, the boys learned that they were expected to have sex with the hotel's guests as a condition of staying there. For the most part, the boys complied, often because they had no other choice. As one of the boys explained, "Two or three things were done by force; two or three things were maybe done in order to get the things they [Julian and Decker] had promised. A lot of them did it because they wanted to get some money to help their parents." Feb. 11, 2003 Tr. (Calderon/Cesena excerpt) at 44.

The companionship and sexual services of the boys were included in the rate Decker and Julian charged their guests. On arrival at CVM, a guest would be offered his pick of the four or five boys who were living at the hotel; if a guest was not satisfied with the selection, he might be taken to the gay beach in Acapulco to pick up another boy. Although the guests were not required to pay the boys, they sometimes gave the boys shoes, clothing, and other gifts. Decker urged the boys to swim naked in the pool when a guest was present to drum up business for themselves. One of the boys would later testify that, according to Decker, "the more naked we were, the better for us, because we would be able to get more things." Feb. 11, 2003 Tr. (Calderon/Cesena excerpt) at 42.

David Calderon was one of the boys who was recruited to live at CVM. Calderon testified that he was 16 or 17 years old when he lived at the hotel.¹ Decker and Julian had told Calderon that CVM was a shelter for homeless children like himself and that they would help him. Among the responsibilities assigned to Calderon was the task of cleaning the guest rooms; and on one occasion, Julian also gave him 12,000 pesos with which to pay the monthly rent on the property to the landlord. However, Calderon quickly learned that boys staying at the resort also were expected to sexually service the guests.² Cal deron himself acknowledged having engaged in sex with Julian.

Roberto Ezekiel Guzman Cesena stayed at CVM for a period of five months. Cesena was born in 1985 and was 13 years old when he lived at the hotel. Cesena had been left without a home and means of support after his uncle, with whom he had been living, took a job in Mexico City. Cesena had met Decker on a beach in Acapulco and had traded sex with him for food, housing, and money. Cesena and a friend had been living with Decker for nine months when Julian and Decker started the hotel, and he moved to CVM on the promise of a job.³ Cesena recalled that he had met Julian for the first time when Decker took him to an Acapulco apartment or hotel (not CVM) where Julian was staying; on that occasion, Julian attempted to penetrate Cesena with his penis. Julian later told Cesena that if he did not wish to engage in this type of activity, he was always free to leave CVM. Penniless and with few options, Cesena remained at the hotel, where he was subsequently grabbed and forcibly raped by Julian and Decker. Cesena stuck it out for another two weeks after that attack, hoping that Julian and Decker would honor their promise to buy him a bus ticket to Tijuana, where his parents lived. When the ticket was not forthcoming, Cesena finally decided he had had enough. He left CVM, taking a television set with him.

Although Decker was responsible for the day-to-day management of CVM, Julian returned to Acapulco on several occasions to "host" the clients he had recruited to stay at the hotel. According to Decker, Julian was at CVM on a total of three or four occasions and while there also made use of the sexual services of some of the young boys.⁴

The advertising that Julian had prepared for CVM attracted client Richard Coon, who had been searching the World Wide Web for sex tourism sites and was first alerted to the nature of CVM by an ad's use of the term "young guys" and by Julian's use of the phrase "young smooth boys" in subsequent e-mail correspondence with Coon. Feb. 12, 2003 Tr. (vol.3) at 30-31. After informing Julian of his preference for boys in the range of 14 to 16 years old, Coon booked a stay at CVM for October 14 through October 22 of 1998. Coon's all-inclusive package, arranged through Julian, included a room, breakfasts, and an escort for seven days at a total cost of $700.⁵ Julian returned to Acapulco to host Coon's visit to the hotel on October 14, 1998. Julian met Coon at the airport, and he was later present when Coon picked an escort for the week from a group of four boys. Although the boys presented to Coon were 14 to 17 years old, Coon saw a boy he believed to be as young as eight years old on the CVM premises. Coon believed his chosen escort Armando, with whom he engaged in mutual masturbation and oral copulation, was between the ages of 16 and 17.

Later in October, during the week of Halloween, Louis Accordini, a longtime friend of Julian's, also came to the resort to bring Julian some of his belongings. Julian at this point was preparing to live in Acapulco full time. At Julian's urging, Accordini had considered investing in CVM, understanding that Julian was eventually going to run the place; but Accordini had opted instead to assist Julian by depositing checks for the hotel into Julian's bank account and ensuring that there were funds in Julian's accounts that could be accessed at ATMs in Mexico. When Julian first mentioned CVM to Accordini, he described it as a gay...