A year before his arrest, ex-CNN producer's devices were seized by federal agents on sex crime accusations involving a 9-year-old girl: Court documents



Shocking new allegations have surfaced regarding John Griffin — the former long-time CNN producer who was fired by the network on Monday.

Last week, Griffin was arrested and charged with three counts of using a facility of interstate commerce to attempt to entice underage girls to engage in unlawful sexual activity — each count has a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years of imprisonment and a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

Griffin, 44, 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.

The Daily Mail reported, "According to the indictment, from April to July of 2020, Griffin, who had worked at CNN for nearly eight years, used the messaging apps Kik and Google Hangouts to communicate with people purporting to be parents of young daughters, telling them, among other things, that a 'woman is a woman regardless of her age.'"

Griffin is accused of paying $3,350 through Venmo to Heather Carriker, 48, according to a federal indictment. In July 2020, the mother and her 9-year-old adopted child flew from Nevada to Logan Airport in Boston. Griffin — who was a former producer at CNN's "Cuomo Prime Time" show — picked them up in his red Tesla and drove them to his $2.5 million ski house in Ludlow, Vermont, where the alleged sex abuse took place, according to a federal indictment.

The child's biological mother — Catherine O’Sullivan — reportedly informed authorities of possible child sex abuse.

The New York Post reported, "O’Sullivan, who apparently took care of her daughter some of the time, discovered a trove of disgusting text messages between Carriker and a man, called 'Meet Man,' who helped set Carriker up with at least four other 'boyfriends' for BDSM activity, according to the police report."

O'Sullivan reportedly discovered the disturbing allegations because Carriker used the 9-year-old’s phone to send text messages and log in to social media accounts and email.

"Trip had some great moments and then me (in) the hospital twice," Carriker texted to Griffin, according to the warrant.

O’Sullivan contacted Griffin in August 2020. He told her that nothing happened to the girl at his Vermont home, the police warrant stated.

"John claimed nothing happened between him and [the child], and told [the mom] he did not want to talk to police but would if he needed to," the court papers state.

CT Insider reported, "However, during the first three nights of the trip, the girl told police she was forced to engage in sexual activity with Griffin and her adoptive mother, the warrant stated."

The Hartford Courant reported, "Henderson police said the woman brought a bag full of sex toys to the ski house and made the girl participate in sex with her and Griffin, according to an arrest warrant affidavit."

"[The girl] stated that the remaining nights in Vermont, she did not want to participate in what [her adoptive mother] and John were doing, so she stayed in another room while they went to the basement," the warrant stated.

According to Fox News, "The 9-year-old told a social worker who interviewed her that, on separate occasions, she had been forced to watch her adoptive mother engage in sex acts with four different men – including Griffin."

Police in Henderson, Nevada, reportedly arrested Carriker on Aug. 21, 2020. She was charged with two counts of child abuse, two counts of sexual assault against a child under 14, and one count of lewdness with a minor, Henderson Police spokesman Alan Olvera told the Las Vegas Sun.

Following Carriker's arrest, federal investigators seized "computers storage media, devices, phones, cameras, MicroSD cards, images, and video" from Griffin on Sept. 2, 2020, according to court documents.

Fox News noted, "Authorities first became aware of Griffin's depraved proclivities 18 months ago – yet the FBI didn't arrest him until Friday in Connecticut for allegedly soliciting three mothers and their underage daughters for 'training' on fetish sex."

Griffin is currently in custody and waiting for his next appearance in federal court.

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."

#FBI Albany SAC statement regarding the arrest of CT resident John Griffin by our Rutland, VT Resident Agency. @USAO_VT release here: http://ow.ly/xBF350H8oOa\u00a0pic.twitter.com/3yhjn3NYqi
— FBI Albany (@FBI Albany) 1639163483

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.