A California sex offender is set for sentencing on Wednesday. If federal prosecutors get their way, he will spend almost 20 years in prison.
Ryan Michael Kannett, 38, of Fairfax, faces punishment on child porn charges, but in advance of the sentencing hearing, the government made sure to emphasize allegations that the defendant planned to kill multiple women, including an ex-girlfriend.
“The child sex abuse materials that the defendant possessed and/or sent portrayed sadistic images including bestiality, bondage, and videos depicting violent death, mutilated human bodies, and animal cruelty,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California said in a sentencing memo last Wednesday. “Further, the defendant did not stop at possessing and/or sharing this type of child sex abuse material, he plotted to rape and murder multiple women [redacted] ex-girlfriend. The defendant also expressed his desire to film these actions for monetary gain.”
Kannett allegedly reached out for possible help from someone he approached online. That someone ended up being an undercover agent for Homeland Security Investigations.
“I’m offering the opportunity to both enjoy the experience of helping me to brutally rape, torture, mutilate and snuff my ex [redacted] with me, as well as the opportunity to benefit monetarily from the film’s we sell of the event afterwards,” he wrote in court documents. “I know it sounds beyond the scope of actually being a real and legitimate offer, but I assure you that it is.”
Kannett pleaded guilty to charges in March. Prosecutors recommend that he serve 19 years and 7 months in prison for a count of distribution of child pornography, and 15 years for one count of possession of child pornography. These sentences would be served concurrently. After that, the defendant would serve 15 years of supervised release concurrently for each count.
His attorney Hanni Fakhoury declined to comment.
The almost-closed child pornography case stems from Kannett’s behavior while on probation in another case for “similarly appalling behavior,” officials said. He was previously convicted in the 2000s after he approached someone in a “a child exploitation chatroom” — a person he believed to be the mother of a 10-year-old daughter, authorities said. Kannett wanted to sexually abuse the girl in exchange for cocaine, but the mother turned out to be an undercover agent. He served 10 years in prison and 10 months of supervised release, which he repeatedly violated by failing to go to sex offender counseling, authorities said. He also tested positive for marijuana and meth, officials said.
In the current case, Kannett reached out to a Tennessee-based undercover agent on Dec. 4, 2019. Under the username SickFuck2Taboo4You, he allegedly asked the agent if he “read it right from the groupchat that you are interested in a dark and depraved opportunity for some real action in real life?”
Kannett handed over pictures of a person he said was his ex, authorities said. He suggested what prosecutors described as a “test run”: raping and killing a 5-year-old girl or younger, authorities said.
“5 year old sounds perfect,” he allegedly said, “though I really solidly am open to any age. I think a big part of it will hinge upon what we can most safely and easily snatch up off the streets without having to risk too much of our safety and ability to have our fun and get rid of her and get away. I also think the more accustomed to that snatch and grab strategy we become the more comfortable it will feel, the better at it we will become and the more we can really enjoy the experience. So, I personally not only think we dont have to limit ourselves to one age and experience, but we shouldnt.”
During their discussions, Kannett allegedly shared videos and pictures of child pornography. Prosecutors detailed examples in which adults sexually abused children.
Kannett allegedly revealed what he described as his “main most significant” motivation for engaging in the planned attacks. It was patently misogynistic.
“They were both born with vaginas between their legs,” he wrote, according to the sentencing memo. “These little bitches are made to give us pleasure man. They know it. We know it. Its just somehow our society doesnt support it anymore. Most of the time rape is good enough to show them there [sic] purpose.”
According to the memo, Kannett even “expressed wanting to do the same with the undercover agent [raping a little girl], informing the agent that he is ‘a pedophile,’ registered sex offender, and went to jail for enticement of a minor, possession of illegal substances with intent to distribute, and a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.”
