An Oak Lawn man whose life sentence for murder and arson was overturned in 2021 following advocacy by the Innocence Project was sentenced Monday to five years in prison after pleading guilty to traveling to meet a 13-year-old after exchanging explicit texts, according to court records.
Francisco Nanez, 61, was arrested in May 2024 after the Cook County Sheriff’s Office Internet Crimes Against Children Unit discovered that Nanez was sending inappropriate messages to a juvenile via a social media app, according to the sheriff’s office. According to the sheriff’s office, an investigator began impersonating the child and spoke via text. The sheriff’s office did not specify if the child was male or female.
According to the sheriff’s office, Nanez texted the child sexually explicit messages and wanted nude images. He then allegedly agreed to meet the youngster outside a Berwyn convenience shop, where sheriff’s office officers apprehended him. According to the sheriff’s office, a forensic analysis of Nanez’s cell phone revealed discussions with the victim as well as non-explicit images of the child.
Nanez pled guilty to going to meet with a juvenile in front of Judge Eulalia De La Rosa. Under state law, Nanez must serve half of his sentence. With credit for 825 days in the county jail, he has around 87 days left to serve.
The complaint was brought less than two years after Nanez was released from his life term for a 1986 arson that killed two people. In July 2022, the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office declined to retry Nanez and two co-defendants, all of whom got life sentences after jury trials.
Nanez’s release from prison began in 2007, when one of his co-defendants watched an episode of “Mythbusters” on prison television. The show’s hosts investigated whether putting a lighted cigarette into a pool of gasoline could spark a fire and determined that it was implausible, a result pertinent to the arson case that landed the men in jail. The co-defendant contacted an attorney, and the case proceeded to progress through the courts.
In July 2021, prosecutors led by then-Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx dropped charges against Nanez’s two co-defendants and overturned Nanez’s conviction.
Nanez filed a federal complaint in May 2023, demanding restitution from the city, the prosecutors, and the Chicago police officers involved in the 1986 case. Last year, the City Council approved a settlement that paid Nanez $8 million. His two co-defendants each got $20 million.
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