West Idaho man sentenced to 15 years for enticing children online in undercover sting

CANYON COUNTY, Idaho (KIFI) — Attorney General Raúl Labrador announced today that Garrett Ray Vanni, 38, of Boise, was sentenced to up to 15 years in prison for attempting to entice children online.

Vanni's arrest earlier this year was part of a joint undercover operation targeting individuals who use the internet to entice children, coordinated by the Attorney General's Internet Crimes Against Children task force.

The 38-year-old was taken into custody on February 27, 2025, as a result of a coordinated two-night undercover operation led by the ICAC task force and the Canyon County Sheriff's Office. The operation involved law enforcement officers posing as underage children to expose adults seeking to sexually abuse children or share child sexual abuse material over the internet.

Vanni reportedly engaged in sexually explicit conversations with someone he believed was a 15-year-old girl, but who was actually an undercover law enforcement officer. On February 27, 2025, Vanni arrived at a Nampa hotel intending to have sex with the minor, only to find law enforcement waiting for him. He was arrested by members of the Attorney General's ICAC Task Force and pleaded guilty before trial.

On November 5, 2025, Canyon County District Judge Davis F. VanderVelde sentenced Vanni to a total unified sentence of fifteen years in prison with three and a half years fixed and eleven and a half years indeterminate. Vanni will also be required to register as a sex offender in accordance with Idaho law.

"These undercover operations protect Idaho families by stopping predators before they can harm a single child," said Attorney General Labrador. "Our statewide law enforcement partnerships make Idaho families safer every day. When agencies work together, we remove these threats and send a clear message that if you target children in Idaho, you will be caught and prosecuted."

The coordinated operation was brought about through multiple state and local agencies, including the Idaho Office of the Attorney General, Canyon County Sheriff's Office, Idaho State Police, Canyon County Prosecutor's Office, United States Attorney's Office, Homeland Security Investigations, United States Air Force Office of Special Investigations, and officers from local departments across the state.

The investigation was led by Bonneville County Detective Korey Payne and Canyon County Detective Bailey Wilson. The case was prosecuted by Deputy Attorney General James Haws.

The AG's office encourages anyone with information regarding the exploitation of children to contact local police, the Attorney General's ICAC Unit at 208-947-8700, or the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at 1-800-843-5678.