Longtime CNN Producer Pleads Not Guilty To Child Sex Trafficking Charges, Denied Bail
Longtime CNN producer John Griffin was denied bail by the judge as he pleaded not guilty to child sex trafficking charges in a U.S. District Court in Vermont. Griffin is looking at spending from 10 years to life in prison if convicted.
He pleaded not guilty to three counts of child sex trafficking. U.S. Attorney Michael Drescher asked the judge to deny Griffin bail writing: “Griffin has a history of mental illness and substance abuse, and he recently admitted to continuing to use intoxicants.
“He faces not only a significant loss of liberty, but also extraordinary reputational damage. He has dishonestly tried to talk his way out of being held accountable.
“He has tried to buy his way out of trouble. There is no set of conditions that can assure the Court of his continued appearance or address the danger he presents if released.”
Judge William Sessions III granted Drescher’s motion and denied the former producer of Chris Cuomo’ morning show bail.
According to DOJ, the indictment, says 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. On these communication platforms, Griffin sought to persuade parents to allow him to train their daughters to be sexually submissive.
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 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 includes specific allegations that Griffin attempted to entice two other children over the internet to engage in sexual activity.
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.
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.
The United States Attorney’s Office emphasizes that an indictment contains allegations only and that Griffin remains presumed innocent until and unless he is convicted of a crime. On each count, Griffin faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years of imprisonment and a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
The indictment includes a notice that states 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.
CNN producer John Griffin tried to bribe witnesses and bragged about sexually training girls as young as seven, court documents say https://t.co/5Z4W2KSNjj
— Daily Mail US (@DailyMail) December 21, 2021