Luke Braniff, age 26, from Mason City, Iowa, was sentenced in federal court in Sioux City today to nine years for his felon in possession of ammunition conviction. Braniff was previously convicted of two counts of lascivious acts with a child in 2017, and sex offender registry violations, in 2018, 2023, and 2025. These felony convictions prohibit Braniff from possessing any guns or ammunition. At the plea hearing on March 3, 2026, Braniff admitted to possessing ammunition knowing he was prohibited from doing so due to his previous convictions.
Law enforcement officers became aware of Braniff’s illegal possession of ammunition during an investigation regarding reports of Braniff sending vulgar sexual messages on Snapchat to a minor female and requesting nude images of the child.United States District Court Judge Leonard T. Strand sentenced Braniff to 108 months’ imprisonment and he must serve a three-year term of supervised release following imprisonment. There is no parole in the federal system. Braniff is being held in the custody of the U.S.
Marshals Service until he can be transported to a federal prison.This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc. For more information about Internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab “resources.”This case is also part of Operation Take Back America a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime.The case was investigated by the Mason City Police Department and was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Kraig R.
Hamit. Court file information at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl. The case file number is 25-3039. Follow us on X @USAO_NDIA.