Man who engaged in sex acts with young girls receives 11year sentence
Mariani also received sexual images from one of the girls
A federal judge has sentenced a Royal Oak man to prison for engaging in sex acts with young girls and for receiving sexual images from one of them.
Nikolas Boris Mariani, 21, got an 11-year prison sentence by U.S. District Judge David Lawson after pleading guilty in 2020 to coercing and inducing a 14-year-old girl to engage in sexual activity. He also admitted to receiving sexually explicit images from her.
Mariani reportedly met the girl on Snapchat.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office — Eastern District of Michigan, in another incident police found a 14-year-old runaway hiding under Mariani’s bed, nearly naked. She said she, too, met him on Snapchat and that they engaged in sex acts. And in a third incident, DNA evidence linked Mariani to sex acts with another 14-yearold girl who he had picked up from her home in Flint. He later left her in a Detroit parking lot.
“This offender serially exploited minors that he met online,” U.S. Attorney Dawn Ison stated in a news release. “Our office will work tirelessly to pursue and prosecute individuals who exploit vulnerable children.”
Added James Tarasca, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Detroit Field Office: “The sentence handed down in this case reflects the serious nature of the crimes committed by this defendant, which are particularly troubling given his repeated efforts to harm and exploit minors. The FBI is committed to protecting the most vulnerable members of our society — our children — and to bringing predators like Mariani to justice.”
According to the news release, the case was investigated by the Southeast Michigan Trafficking and Exploitation Crimes Task Force of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Roseville Police Department, and was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Christopher Rawsthorne.