Inmate makes thousands of calls to girl he’s convicted of abusing in CA, feds say (2025)

Inside a California prison, a man serving a state sentence repeatedly ignored a 10-year no contact order by making thousands of calls to a teen he’s accused of sexually abusing and threatening with a gun, according to federal court filings.

Nathaniel Ray Diaz, of Greenfield, was convicted in September 2023 of committing lewd and lascivious acts against a minor under 14 and criminal threats after he was accused of harming the girl, who was 12 at the time, court documents say. He pleaded no contest to the felony and misdemeanor charges, then was sentenced to three years in prison, according to court records.

Despite the girl having a criminal protective order against Diaz, who’s now 21, he contacted her from Avenal State Prison in Kings County between July 5 and Nov. 25, a special agent with Homeland Security Investigations wrote in an affidavit. The prison, which houses male inmates, is about a 65-mile drive southwest from Fresno.

During those months, he told her to send sexually explicit images of herself, according to the affidavit. At the time of the affidavit’s filing on March 12, the girl was 14.

Attorney information for Diaz wasn’t immediately available the afternoon of April 22.

The calls from the prison

To communicate with the girl, authorities said Diaz called her using prison phones, tablets issued to him and other inmates by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and through a messaging platform monitored by prison staff, called ViaPath.

Two people from outside the prison, a man and a woman, helped him keep in contact with the teen, according to court filings. Charging documents only identify them as “coconspirator 1” and “coconspirator 2.”

In September, Diaz told the teen to take sexually explicit images of herself, then had her send them to the first co-conspirator, the affidavit says.

The co-conspirator shared the images with Diaz, according to the affidavit.

In November, local law enforcement received a tip about Diaz contacting the teen, the affidavit says.

Then a special agent with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation launched an investigation, leading authorities to review Diaz’s calls from the prison, according to the filing.

The indictment

A federal grand jury indicted Diaz on three counts: sexual exploitation of a minor, attempted receipt of a visual depiction of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct and obstruction of justice, according to an April 21 news release issued by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California.

He pleaded not guilty at an arraignment on April 21, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

After authorities learned of Diaz calling the teen from Avenal State Prison, prosecutors said he told individuals aware of their communications to delete evidence.

This included the “destruction of Snapchat evidence,” according to his indictment filed March 20.

On Jan. 21, according to the affidavit, the teen’s mother agreed for an HSI forensic interview specialist to speak with her daughter about Diaz.

During the interview, the girl confirmed she knew Diaz before he was incarcerated at the state prison, and that she met him when she was 9 or 10, the affidavit says.

The teen told the interview specialist that she heard “coconspirator 2” talking to Diaz on the phone in July, according to the affidavit.

Then “she and Diaz” asked the woman if she’d allow her and Diaz to speak with each other, the teen reported, the affidavit says.

On July 23, the woman told Diaz over a video call that “she did not like that (the girl) was a ‘minor,’” the HSI agent wrote in the affidavit, based on a review of Diaz’s calls from prison.

The woman said “he could just wait until (she) turned 18 years old, and Diaz claimed that was the plan,” the affidavit says.

During her interview in January, the girl said she and Diaz spoke over the phone “all the time,” according to the affidavit.

She revealed Diaz forced her to talk with him for hours, every day, when she left school until midnight — because that’s when “the ‘phones turned off’ at the prison,’” the affidavit says.

The girl said Diaz didn’t trust her and required her to stay on the phone, according to the affidavit.

She explained he wouldn’t “let her go out, even with family, unless (she) first received permission from him,” according to the affidavit.

According to the HSI agent, the girl expressed she was fine with speaking with Diaz at first.

“But after some time, she felt suffocated and was upset she could not go out or call her friends,” the agent wrote in the filing.

What happens if he’s convicted?

If Diaz is convicted on all federal counts against him, he’ll face decades in prison, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

The charge of sexual exploitation of a child carries a mandatory minimum penalty of 25 years in prison and up to 50 years in prison, as well as a fine of up to $250,000, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

If Diaz is convicted of attempted receipt of a visual depiction of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct, he’d face at least 15 years in prison and up to 40 years in prison, according to prosecutors. He could also be fined up to $250,000.

The obstruction of justice charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and another potential $250,000 fine, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

Concerns or suspicions about child sexual exploitation can be reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s CyberTipline online or by calling 1-800-843-5678.

This story was originally published April 22, 2025 at 4:08 PM.