Abilene Repeat Sex Offender Sentenced to 50 Years for Child Porn Production

ABILENE, TX - An Abilene man who produced child pornography as a registered sex offender was sentenced yesterday to 50 years in federal prison, announced U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Ryan Raybould. 

Kai Isaiah Ranaglia-Nelson, 25, was indicted in December 2025 and pleaded guilty in January 2026 to production of child pornography. He was sentenced yesterday to 600 months in federal prison by U.S. District Judge Brantley Starr.

“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 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."

In 2020, Nelson pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual extortion and one count of sexual exploitation of a minor in Arizona. In that case, Nelson groomed and exploited multiple children. Despite receiving a five-year prison sentence and being released on supervision in 2023, Nelson resumed exploiting children shortly after his release.

In late 2025, as a part of Operation Relentless Justice, a coordinated enforcement effort to identify, track, and arrest child sex predators, law enforcement identified Ranaglia-Nelson after he used Snapchat to entice and coerce a thirteen-year-old child into producing multiple sexually explicit videos. The nationwide crackdown resulted in over 205 child victims being located and the arrests of over 293 child sexual abuse offenders. The coordinated effort was executed over the course of two weeks by all 56 FBI field offices, the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS) in the Department’s Criminal Division, and U.S. Attorneys’ offices around the country.

FBI Dallas Field Office (Abilene RA), the Abilene Police Department, and the Taylor County Sheriff’s Office handled the investigation.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Whitney James prosecuted the case.

These operations underscore the Department’s unwavering commitment to protecting children and combating child sexual exploitation. These cases were brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. attorneys’ offices and CEOS, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. 

For more information about Project Safe Childhood, visit justice.gov/psc.

The Department partners with and oversees funding grants for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), which receives and shares tips about possible child sexual exploitation received through its 24/7 hotline at 1-800-THE-LOST and on missingkids.org.

The Department urges the public to remain vigilant, and report suspected exploitation of a child through the FBI's tipline at 1-800-CALL-FBI (225-5324), tips.fbi.gov, or by calling your local FBI field office.