Lakewood Man Posed As Teen, Solicited Nude Photos From Child: DOJ

LAKEWOOD, OH — A Lakewood man pleaded guilty to posing as a teenager online to solicit sexually explicit photos and videos from a child, the Department of Justice announced.

Brian Grinnell, 36, of Lakewood, pleaded guilty to distribution of child pornography in the District of Connecticut. He will be sentenced July 19. He faces a mandatory minimum of 5 years in prison, and a maximum of 20 years in prison.

Starting in March 2020, court documents said, Grinnell began posing as a 15-year-old girl online. During that time, he met a girl who was under the age of 12 on an online chat website, court documents said.

After the two met online, Grinnell began communicating with the girl through Snapchat. He convinced the girl to take sexually explicit photos and videos of herself and send them to him, court documents said.

The girl eventually felt uncomfortable talking to Grinnell and unfriended and blocked him online, court documents said.

Grinnell then reached out to a friend of the girl's using TikTok. He told the friend that unless the girl got int ouch with him, he would post a naked video of the girl on TikTok, court documents said.

Grinnell then posted sexually explicit videos of the girl on TikTok, court documents said.

A friend of the girl asked Grinnell to not post any more videos, court documents said.

Grinnell responded, court documents said, by saying: "“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.”

According to court documents, the girls then threatened to go to the police and Grinnell said, "How are they gonna find me?" He then posted another video of the girl on TikTok.

The FBI opened a multi-state investigation into the incidents on TikTok. On September 23, 2020, police identified Grinnell and arrested him. He has been in custody since that time.