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Ex-CNN Producer Gets Nearly 20 Years in Prison For Sexually Abusing Young Girl
John Griffin pleaded guilty in December for luring a mother and her 9-year-old daughter to his home to engage in unlawful sexual acts with the child.
Ex-CNN producer John Griffin was sentenced Tuesday to more than 19 years in prison and 15 years of supervised release after pleading guilty to luring a 9-year-old girl into illegal sexual acts at his Vermont home as a part of a “sexual training” plot.
Warning: This story deals with child sexual abuse.
Griffin pleaded guilty in December to one of three counts of “using a facility of interstate commerce to, knowingly attempt to persuade, induce, entice and coerce an individual who had not attained the age of 18 years to engage in sexual activity,” according to the indictment against him from the U.S. Attorney of Vermont.
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The two remaining charges were dropped as a part of a 2022 plea deal, VT Digger reported. The plea agreement permitted the judge to impose a penalty on Griffin of not less than 10 years in prison and up to the remainder of his life.
He was also ordered to pay $1.1 million in restitution to the victims and to forfeit property, including the Tesla he used to pick up the 9-year-old girl and her mom.
According to the plea deal, Griffin was communicating with the victim's mom online during the summer of 2020, eventually persuading her to fly from Nevada to Boston with her 9-year-old daughter to engage in sexual activity in his Ludlow, Vermont ski home.
Griffin, after paying $3,000 to fly them out, picked up the woman and girl in his Tesla and brought them back to his residence, where he sexually assaulted the girl.
The then 44-year-old ex-producer was arrested on Dec. 10, 2021, on multiple charges for luring young girls to his house, or attempting to, for training to be “sexually subservient," according to the U.S. Attorney's office.
He would use messaging apps to befriend women, saying a “woman is a woman regardless of her age,” and trying to get them to allow him to “train” their minor daughters in a sexual manner, according to the indictment.
RELATED: CNN Producer Pleads Not Guilty To Child Sex Crimes in Vermont
Griffin was a producer at CNN who had worked at the network for eight years before being fired following his arrest, according to the Associated Press.
He will not be allowed to have contact with anyone under the age of 18, except in the presence of an adult that a probation officer approves, the AP reported. He also won't be allowed in areas where there are a lot of children, including playgrounds, schools and theme parks, unless he gets advanced approval from a probation officer.
