Man convicted of sexually abusing a young Michigan girl

(WWJ) – A man who traveled from out of state to sexually abuse a young Michigan girl has been sentenced to nearly three decades in prison.

U.S. Attorney Mark Totten announced Thursday that Kristian Ignacio Feliz, 24, of Connecticut, was sentenced to 28 years in federal prison for sexual exploitation of a child.

U.S. District Judge Jane Beckering emphasized the “manipulative” and violent nature of Feliz’s crimes, concluding that they will affect the victim “for the rest of her life.”

Feliz was indicted in March 2023 and extradited from Spain in November 2023 to face charges related to the abuses that began in the fall of 2022.

That October, according to Totten’s office, Feliz was a 23-year-old graduate student studying quantum physics abroad in Barcelona, ​​Spain. Around that time, he had begun “an online relationship” with a 12-year-old girl who lived in Kalamazoo.

According to the law firm, Feliz told the girl he loved her and called her “my little wife,” while repeatedly pressuring her to create and send him pornographic videos.

Then, in January 2023, Feliz traveled to Kalamazoo and spent three days recording videos of himself abusing the girl in her home. After leaving town, Feliz instructed the girl to sell the videos online and have the money wired into his accounts.

“Every child has the right to grow up safe, healthy and free from abuse,” said U.S. Attorney Mark Totten. “In this case, an out-of-state sex offender targeted a child in Kalamazoo, traveled here to abuse him, and then left the country.”

Totten said his office has worked closely with state, federal and international authorities to ensure “Feliz is returned to Michigan so he can face justice in our courts.”

“Today’s conviction is a shining example of the outstanding interagency and international coordination between the FBI’s Western Michigan Violent Crime Task Force, the Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety, the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Spanish government,” said Cheyvoryea Gibson, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI in Michigan. “No matter how far away the perpetrators of these crimes are, we will use every means at our disposal to extradite you to the United States to face justice there.”

This case is part of the Safe Childhood project, a nationwide initiative to protect children from exploitation and abuse on the Internet.

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