New details on the story SCDN broke about the Minford man arrested for pandering obscenity – cops say Nicolas Ranieri, 27, used the popular video game Fortnite to lure kids into performing sexual acts via Zoom calls.
The Scioto County Sheriff’s Office learned of the alleged crimes when the FBI contacted them about the online sexual incident. Scioto County SVU worked with the FBI to identify the out-of-state victim and then served a search warrant at Ranieri’s home on White Gravel Dewey Road.
During the search, detectives seized gaming systems, computers, and cell phones. Sheriff David Thoroughman says Raniere would play Fortnite and other games online with young boys. He should offer to buy the kids gaming items and games if they performed sexual acts via a Zoom call and watched him do the same.
As we told you yesterday, Ranieri was charged with pandering obscenity involving a minor and disseminating material harmful to juveniles.
SCDN uncovered another disturbing fact about Ranieri. In October of last year, he filed the paperwork for an LLC for a homecare business called First Choice Homecare Solutions.
The investigation is still ongoing. Anyone with information should contact Detective Sergeant Jodi Conkel at 740-351-1091.
