A federal appellate panel upheld a Kentucky-born, U.S. citizen’s conviction for engaging in illicit sexual conduct while teaching in Cambodia, despite his claims that Congress lacked the power to regulate the conduct for which he was convicted.

Micky Rife entered a conditional guilty plea to one count of illicit sexual conduct after a federal grand jury indicted him on two counts of sexual conduct in a foreign place, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §2423(c), relating to the transportation of minors.