Guilty Plea In Child Porn Case Investigated By New Canaan PD

NEW CANAAN, CT — A 36-year-old Lakewood, Ohio, man has pleaded guilty to distribution of child pornography in connection with a case in which a victim, who was under the age of 12, was in New Canaan at the time.

Acting U.S. Attorney Leonard C. Boyle announced that Brian Grinnell pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Michael P. Shea in Hartford on Monday.

According to court documents and statements, in March 2020, Grinnell posed as a 15-year-old girl and met a girl, who was under the age of 12 at the time, on Omegle, an online chat website and mobile application that allows users to interact with strangers.

"Shortly thereafter, he began communicating with the minor victim on Snapchat," prosecutors said. He used the account name "alexisswimmer99."

"Grinnell told the minor victim to take sexually explicit photos and videos of herself and send them to Grinnell over Snapchat," prosecutors said. "After the minor victim began to feel threatened by Grinnell, she unfriended and blocked Grinnell’s account."

Grinnell subsequently got in touch with a friend of the victim on TikTok, using account name "alexisswimmer9" this time, and "stated that unless the minor victim got in touch with him, he would post a video of the minor victim naked on TikTok."

Prosecutors said that Grinnell then posted sexually explicit videos of the minor victim on TikTok

When a friend of the victim, who is also a minor, begged Grinnell not to post additional videos of the victim, Grinnell stated, "I want a video of you begging me to not put them up. And you have to be topless in the video. If you don't want any more of your friend stuff going out."

After the friend told Grinnell that they would call the police, Grinnell responded "How are they gonna find me?" prosecutors said. Grinnell then posted another video of the minor victim on TikTok.

Grinnell was arrested in September and has been in custody ever since. He is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Shea on July 19, at which time Grinnell faces a mandatory minimum prison term of five years and a maximum term of 20 years.

In addition to New Canaan police, this investigation has been conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, with assistance from the Cuyahoga County (Ohio) Prosecutor’s Office and Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Office.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Tara E. Levens and Sarala V. Nagala through the U.S. Department of Justice’s Project Safe Childhood Initiative, which is aimed at protecting children from sexual abuse and exploitation.

For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.