United States v. Terry McVey, 2014 U.S. App. LEXIS 7618

McVey pled guilty to possessing 300–600 images of child pornography, including prepubescent minors, shipped interstate.
Guidelines enhancements applied: use of computer, possession of prepubescent images, and 300–600 images.
Probation recommended additional enhancements for distribution and sadistic/masochistic content; downward variance given.
December 31, 2008: McVey uploaded a video; 23 months before the July 2011 possession offense.
McVey admitted to possessing and distributing over ten years and uploading to Yahoo! Groups on multiple occasions.
District court affirmed an enhancement for distribution, treating distribution and possession as the same course of conduct.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether the distribution enhancement was properly applied	McVey: prior distribution not relevant conduct due to time gap.	Government: distribution closely related through ongoing course of conduct.	Affirmed; district court did not clearly err.

United States v. Pauley, 289 F.3d 254 (4th Cir. 2002) (relevant-conduct factual inquiry; review for clear error)
United States v. Mullins, 971 F.2d 1138 (4th Cir. 1992) (time, similarity, regularity as elements of course of conduct)
United States v. Hodge, 354 F.3d 305 (4th Cir. 2004) (clear-error standard for relevant conduct)
United States v. Sykes, 7 F.3d 1331 (7th Cir. 1993) (regularity required for prior offenses to count as related)
United States v. Cote, 482 F. App’x 373 (11th Cir. 2011) (possession and distribution linked by common modus operandi)