United States v. Roger Lee Caldwell, Jr.

── United States v. Roger Lee Caldwell, Jr. ── Court: Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit Date: April 14, 2026 Category: NEW USCA11 Case: 24-11903 Document: 45-1 Date Filed: 04/14/2026 Page: 1 of 8 NOT FOR PUBLICATION In the United States Court of Appeals For the Eleventh Circuit ____________________ No. 24-11903 Non-Argument Calendar ____________________ UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee, versus ROGER LEE CALDWELL, JR., Defendant-Appellant. ____________________ Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida D.C. Docket No. 8:22-cr-00334-KKM-AEP-1 ____________________ Before ABUDU, KIDD, and ANDERSON, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM: Roger Caldwell, Jr., was convicted of production of child pornography, transportation of a minor with the intent to engage USCA11 Case: 24-11903 Document: 45-1 Date Filed: 04/14/2026 Page: 2 of 8 2 Opinion of the Court 24-11903 in sexual activity, and possession of child pornography. He now ap- peals and challenges the district court’s admission of certain out-of-court statements during his trial. We find that any error in admitting this testimony was harmless and affirm Caldwell’s con- victions. I. BACKGROUND In March 2022, law enforcement received a call alleging that Caldwell had been sexually abusing his ex-fiancée’s minor daugh- ters for several years. Police spoke with the victims and their mother and recovered nearly 150 images of child pornography from the household computer in a folder labeled “rogerspics.” Thereafter, Caldwell was charged with production of child pornography, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2251(a) and (e) (Count One), transportation of a minor with intent to engage in sexual ac- tivity, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2423(a) (Counts Two and Three), and possession of child pornography depicting a minor under the age of twelve, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2252(a)(4)(B) and (b)(2) (Count Four). Caldwell pleaded not guilty to these charges and proceeded to trial in February 2024. We will briefly summarize the trial evidence relevant to our analysis. Detective Alexander Nikias testified that he was the one to respond to the 911 call regarding possible child abuse. The mother of the victims informed him that Caldwell, her former fiancé of about six years, had been sexually abusing her two daughters. De- tective Nikias testified that he spoke to the victims, but as he was about to testify to these conversations, Caldwell objected to this USCA11 Case: 24-11903 Document: 45-1 Date Filed: 04/14/2026 Page: 3 of 8 24-11903 Opinion of the Court 3 testimony, in relevant part, as inadmissible hearsay. The court overruled the objection “to the extent [Detective Nikias was] going to explain [his] further investigation steps,” and Caldwell declined to have a limiting instruction read. Detective Nikias then recounted his three-to-four-minute conversation with the older of the two victims, stating that: AN recounted a series of allegations of sexual abuse stemming from when she was younger, starting off with that the defendant – that [Caldwell] forced her to suck his you know what was one of the first things sh