Former CNN producer John Griffin sentenced to 19 years in prison for child molestation

Former CNN producer John Griffin has been sentenced to more than 19 years in prison for sexually abusing a 9-year-old girl with the help of his mother, prosecutors said.

Griffin, a former Stamford, Connecticut resident, pleaded guilty in December to using interstate commerce to induce and coerce a minor into illicit sex. In response to his plea, the government dropped the other two charges.

On Tuesday, Griffin was sentenced to 19.5 years in prison, followed by 15 years of supervised release.

“You make me sad and angry,” the victim told Griffin at Tuesday’s hearing, according to a local reporter. She also told the judge that she found it difficult to trust people, adding, “I don’t trust anyone anymore.”

From April to July 2022, the longtime CNN producer used Kik and Google Hangouts to communicate with people who claimed to be parents of underage girls, prosecutors said.

During these conversations, Griffin said that “a woman is a woman regardless of age” and that women should be sexually submissive and inferior to men. He also tried to persuade her parents to “train” her daughter to be obedient.

In June 2020, Griffin told mothers of 9- and 13-year-old girls that her role was to make sure her older daughters were “properly trained.” He then sent the woman more than $3,000 for airfare so that her mother and her nine-year-old daughter could fly from Nevada to Boston.

“The mother and child flew to Boston in July 2020, and Griffin picked them up in a Tesla and drove them to Ludlow’s home,” prosecutors said in a December 2021 statement. Participated in and did engage in illicit sexual activity, where “at home my daughter was instructed to be engaged.” “

In exchange for Griffin’s guilty plea, prosecutors dropped two charges against Griffin for allegedly trying to induce his two other children to participate in sexual activity. One of them referred to his mother and her 14-year-old daughter, whom he said he offered her a “virtual training session.”

Griffin worked for CNN for about eight years before being fired after his arrest. The victim’s mother, Heather Carriker of Henderson, Nevada, was arrested and charged in August 2020. The circumstances of her case are unknown.