Former CNN Producer Sentenced to Nearly 20 Years!

A former CNN producer who pleaded guilty to luring and sexually abusing a 9-year-old girl was sentenced Tuesday to 19 years in prison.

John Griffin, who also received an additional 15 years of supervised release, “pleaded guilty in federal court in December to using interstate commerce to entice and coerce the girl to engage in sexual activity at his Vermont ski house,” the Associated Press reports.

BREAKING: ex-CNN producer John Griffin sentenced to nearly 20 years in prison for luring, sexually abusing 9-year-old child

— Insider Paper (@TheInsiderPaper) June 20, 2023

From the New York Post in December:

Griffin, of Stamford, Connecticut, met a woman online and persuaded her to bring her 9-year-old daughter to his $2.5 million Vermont cabin, where he engaged in sexual activity with the child, according to prosecutors.

Griffin paid the mother $3,000 in July 2020 to fly from Nevada to Boston, where he picked them up in a Tesla and drove them to his Ludlow, Vermont, house, where he directed the young girl to engage in unlawful sexual activity.

The mother, Heather Carriker, was also arrested and slapped with child abuse and child sex assault charges.

The former producer asked the parents of several minors to bring their daughters to his home for “sexual subservience” training and allegedly bragged about luring girls as young as 7 to his pad.

He told the parents he believed that a “woman is a woman regardless of her age” and that as such, all women should be sexually subservient and inferior to men, prosecutors said.

BREAKING: Ex-CNN producer John Griffin, who reached a plea deal late last year with federal prosecutors on child sexual abuse charges in Vermont, was sentenced Tuesday to 19.5 years in prison. https://t.co/VFRGVcmlbJ

— VTDigger (@vtdigger) June 20, 2023

AP reports:

Griffin was arrested on Dec. 10, 2021, a day after he was indicted by a grand jury. He worked for CNN for about eight years but was fired after he was arrested, according to the network.

He also cannot have contact with people under the age of 18, except in the presence of an adult who has been approved by a probation officer, and is prohibited from being in areas where children congregate, such as schools, playgrounds and theme parks, unless approved by the probation office beforehand.

According to VT Digger, the girl Griffin admitted to sexually abusing took part in the hearing via video.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Drescher, the prosecutor in the case, asked for the judge to impose a prison sentence of a little more than 21 years. David Kirby, an attorney representing Griffin, called on Sessions to hand down a sentence of 10 years in prison for his client, the mandatory minimum for the offense.

The girl Griffin admitted to sexually abusing in 2020 and her grandmother took part in the hearing Tuesday via video and both expressed outrage at Griffin’s conduct in their victim impact statements.

“The child that you raped was my granddaughter,” the grandmother said to Griffin, “You forever ruined a 9-year-old girl.”

The girl told the judge she has difficulties trusting others. “I’ll never trust anyone again,” she said.

She then spoke directly to Griffin. “You make me sad and angry,” she said to him.

Sessions praised the girl for her strength in addressing the court. “You are a very courageous and smart and accomplished person,” the judge told the girl.