Ex-CNN Producer Pleads Guilty to Child Sex Charge After Luring Girl to His Home

Former CNN producer John Griffin has pleaded guilty to a child sex charge for sexually assaulting a little girl after he lured her to his home in Ludlow, Vermont.

The 45-year-old pleaded guilty in federal court on Monday “to using interstate commerce for the enticement of a minor as part of a plea deal in which the two remaining counts of enticement of a minor he was initially charged with last year were dropped,” according to the New York Post.

Prosecutors said the man, who is from Stamford, Connecticut, met a woman online and persuaded her to travel with her 9-year-old daughter to his Vermont home where he engaged in sexual activity with the girl.

He allegedly lured the mother and her daughter to the home to “train” the girl to be sexually submissive, according to a report from December 2021.

In July 2020, Griffin reportedly paid the mother $3,000 to travel from Nevada to Boston where he met them and transported the pair to the Vermont house. At the residence, he allegedly told the girl to engage in unlawful sex acts.

Officials also arrested the child’s mother, Heather Carriker. She faces charges of child abuse and child sex assault.

The man was also accused of bragging about luring other young girls to his residence, the Post article said.

“In April 2020, he suggested to the mother of a 14-year-old girl that she and her daughter do a ‘virtual training session’ over video chat in which he would instruct the pair to undress and touch one another at his direction,” the report continued.

Authorities arrested the father of three on December 10, 2021, and he initially pleaded not guilty to several counts of enticement of a minor.

“We take the charges against Mr. Griffin incredibly seriously,” a CNN spokesperson said after his arrest, adding, “We only learned of his arrest this afternoon and have suspended him pending investigation.”

The network later fired him.

Now he faces a minimum of 10 years and a maximum of life behind bars and will be sentenced in March. He is required to pay “full restitution” to the victims involved in the case in an amount that the court has not yet decided upon.

“Griffin also faces a fine of up to $250,000 and has agreed to forfeit his Tesla and to donate half of the proceeds from the sale of his Vermont ski home and a Mercedes into the court registry,” the Post article read, noting it was possible he may have to register as a sex offender.

Per a criminal complaint, officials learned of Griffin’s “depraved proclivities” 18 months before the FBI arrested him, a report from December 2021 said.

In January, Griffin’s wife filed for divorce and was seeking full custody of their children, alimony, and their $4.5 million mansion in Norwalk, Connecticut, according to a report.