PROVIDENCE, R.I. — A recidivist sex offender previously convicted in Massachusetts and living in Rhode Island has been sentenced to 30 years in federal prison, Acting U.S. Attorney Sara Miron Bloom said Monday.
Nicholas Sannicandro, 35, of North Providence, listed as a Level 2 sex offender on the Rhode Island Sex Offender Registry, was sentenced Monday to 360 months of incarceration to be followed by a term of 15 years of supervised release, Miron Bloom said in a statement.
U.S. District Court Judge Mary McElroy handed down his sentence.
Sannicandro pleaded guilty on May 8, 2024 to two counts of attempted inducement of a minor to engage in illicit sexual activity, two counts of attempted transfer of obscene material to a minor, one count of possession and access with intent to view child pornography, and one count of commission of an offense by a registered sex offender.
“The lengthy sentenced imposed today ensures that this defendant will not be able to continue his abhorrent conduct of victimizing children,” Miron Bloom said. “This office and our law enforcement partners are committed to working together so that individuals who victimize children are held to account and that resources are available to those they harm.”
“Simply put, Nicholas Sannicandro is a predator,” Kimberly Milka, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Boston Division, said in a statement. “This repeat sex offender admitted to devising a twisted scheme to lure children into his clutches so he could sexually abuse and exploit them.”
“Today’s sentence ensures he’ll stay locked up where he can’t victimize anyone else for a good long time,” Milka said. “The FBI is committed to finding predators like him and bringing them to justice while also ensuring those they’ve victimized are safe and well-supported.”
Sannicandro previously admitted to a federal judge that beginning in January 2021, he began separate communications with the two minor boys in Florida whom he met through an Instagram account. The communications turned sexually explicit, and Sannicandro requested that the boys send him sexually explicit videos of themselves.
Sannicandro attempted to arrange a meeting with someone whom he believed to be one of the boys, proposing that they engage in illicit sexual activity.
The communications were, in fact, with an undercover law enforcement officer who had taken over the boy’s account, prosecutors said.
In those communications, Sannicandro invited the boy to visit him in Rhode Island, discussed sexual acts that Sannicandro wanted to engage in with the boy, and sent videos of himself engaged in sexual activity.
Sannicandro was arrested in Warwick on June 22, 2021, where he was expecting to meet with the boy. A cell phone seized from Sannicandro was found to contain images and videos of child sexual abuse material.
Court records show that Sannicandro was previously convicted in Massachusetts three times, in 2018 and in 2011, of child sexual abuse material and disseminating obscene material to minors.
He was a registered sex offender at the time of his arrest in June 2021.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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