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CNN staffer charged with enticing mothers and underage daughters to engage in unlawful sexual activity; FBI calls allegations 'deeply disturbing'
David McNew/Newsmakers

CNN staffer charged with enticing mothers and underage daughters to engage in unlawful sexual activity; FBI calls allegations 'deeply disturbing'

A CNN employee was charged with three counts of using a facility of interstate commerce to attempt to entice underage girls to engage in unlawful sexual activity. John Griffin, 44, was arrested on Friday by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, according to federal prosecutors.

Griffin, of Stamford, Connecticut, attempted to persuade parents to allow him to train their underage daughters to be sexually submissive, according to the Office of the United States Attorney for the District of Vermont.

"According to the indictment, from April to July of 2020, Griffin utilized the messaging applications Kik and Google Hangouts to communicate with people purporting to be parents of minor daughters, conveying to them, among other ideas, that a 'woman is a woman regardless of her age,' and that women should be sexually subservient and inferior to men," the Department of Justice statement reads.

"In June of 2020, Griffin advised a mother of 9- and 13-year-old daughters that the mother’s responsibility was to see that her older daughter was 'trained properly.' Griffin later transferred over $3,000 to the mother for plane tickets so the mother and her 9-year-old daughter could fly from Nevada to Boston’s Logan airport," the statement says. "The mother and child flew to Boston in July of 2020, where Griffin picked them up in his Tesla and drove them to his Ludlow house. At the house, the daughter was directed to engage in, and did engage in, unlawful sexual activity."

The indictment also states that Griffin attempted to use the internet to lure two other children into engaging in unlawful sexual activities.

"In April of 2020, Griffin proposed to engage in a 'virtual training session' over a video chat that would include him instructing the mother and her 14-year-old daughter to remove their clothing and touch each other at his direction," the indictment reads. "In June of 2020, Griffin proposed to a purported mother of a 16-year-old daughter that she take a 'little mother-daughter trip' to Griffin’s Ludlow ski house for sexual training involving the child."

FBI Special Agent in Charge Janeen DiGuiseppi of the Albany Field Office issued a statement saying, "The allegations are deeply disturbing."

The DOJ statement notes that each of the three counts has a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years of imprisonment and a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

The indictment also states that the federal government "intends to seek the forfeiture of Griffin’s Ludlow house, his Tesla, a Mercedes, and other property that was used in the commission of the charged offenses."

Griffin has been employed by CNN since 2013.

"Griffin was once a producer for the Chris Cuomo show and was most recently a producer for CNN senior political analyst John Avlon," the CT Insider reported.

CNN issued a statement on the allegations.

"We take the charges against Mr. Griffin incredibly seriously," a CNN spokesperson said on Friday, according to Mediaite. "We only learned of his arrest this afternoon and have suspended him pending investigation."

"Griffin appeared Friday afternoon in New Haven federal court via Zoom. Judge Robert Spector said he would file an order for Griffin to be transferred to Vermont," according to the Stamford Advocate.

Griffin has reportedly been scheduled to appear in court again on Dec. 15.

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