An Abilene man previously convicted of sexually exploiting minors in Arizona has been sentenced to 50 years in federal prison after admitting to producing child pornography involving a 13-year-old.
Kai Isaiah Ranaglia-Nelson, 25, was sentenced Tuesday to 600 months in federal prison by U.S. District Judge Brantley Starr, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas.
Ranaglia-Nelson was indicted in December 2025 and pleaded guilty in January 2026 to the production of child pornography.
Federal authorities said Ranaglia-Nelson used Snapchat to entice and coerce a 13-year-old child into producing multiple sexually explicit videos.
“Despite previously being convicted of sexually extorting minors, the defendant preyed on young kids to coax them into producing and sending him child pornography,” U.S. Attorney Ryan Raybould said in a statement. “In the Northern District of Texas we will make sure that these criminals get ejected from the community and sit in federal prison for as long as possible under the law. The Judge sent an unshakable message to the community: if you prey on North Texas kids, you will go to federal prison for a very long time.”
According to prosecutors, Ranaglia-Nelson had previously pleaded guilty in Arizona in 2020 to two counts of sexual extortion and one count of sexual exploitation of a minor. Authorities said he groomed and exploited multiple children in that case.
He received a five-year prison sentence in Arizona and was released on supervision in 2023. Prosecutors said he resumed exploiting children shortly after his release.
Law enforcement identified Ranaglia-Nelson in late 2025 during Operation Relentless Justice, a nationwide enforcement effort targeting child sex predators. The operation involved all 56 FBI field offices, the Department of Justice’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, and U.S. attorneys’ offices across the country.
Authorities said the two-week operation resulted in more than 293 arrests and the identification of more than 205 child victims nationwide.
The case was investigated by the FBI Dallas Field Office’s Abilene Resident Agency, the Abilene Police Department, and the Taylor County Sheriff’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Whitney James prosecuted the case.
Federal officials said the prosecution was also part of Project Safe Childhood, a Department of Justice initiative launched in 2006 to combat child sexual exploitation and abuse through coordination among federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies.
