A convicted sex offender was sentenced Monday to more than 25 years in federal prison for attempting to entice two underage girls, one of whom was an undercover agent, to meet with him for sex.
Daniel Steven Brandelli, 39, pleaded guilty Sept. 2 to attempted enticement of a minor to engage in criminal sexual activity and commission of a felony offense involving a minor while requiring to register as a sex offender.
U.S. District Judge David Carter sentenced Brandelli to 308 months in federal prison Monday.
Brandelli admitted in his plea agreement that he was talking to an underage girl between May 21 and July 13 of 2023 through Snapchat, prosecutors said in a sentencing memo.
The two had “sexually explicit conversations” and he asked her to engage in a sex act and send an image of herself to him, prosecutors said. He also tried to get her to meet with him, prosecutors said.
Brandelli texted her with a reference to her age of 15 and said it was illegal to have sex with her, prosecutors said. He messaged her, “If anybody gets in trouble it’s me,” and “That’s y if we get caught u need to say ur 19,” according to prosecutors.
Brandelli also logged into a teen chatroom online and spoke with an undercover FBI agent posing as 14-year-old Mandy, prosecutors said. Brandelli got her number, had sexually explicit conversations with the fictional girl and asked her to send him explicit photos of herself, prosecutors said.
At the time, Brandelli was a registered sex offender because he pleaded guilty in Orange County Superior Court in February 2015 to possessing child pornography, sending harmful matter to a minor with the intent to seduce, and contacting a minor for sex, all felonies.
“Defendant has a troubling pattern of committing sex crimes against minors, including committing the instant offenses while being a registered sex offender,” prosecutors said.