A septuagenarian pastor and retired educator living in Florida has been arrested for the second time, charged with possession and communication of child sexual abuse material (CSAM). Former Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University professor John Robert Griffin II arrested on January 6, facing 30 felony counts of possession of child sexual abuse material.
According to the Daytona Beach Police Department (DBPD), 200 sexual images of children were found on electronic devices belonging to Griffin, after a search warrant was executed at his home on Muirfield Drive.
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On April 2, Griffin was booked into the Volusia County Jail for allegedly sharing CSAM with others through online chat rooms. The latest arrest report says the pastor faces 13 new felony charges related to sharing CSAM online.
The new charges were filed after Daytona Beach police officers working with the Advanced Technology & Cyber Crimes Unit. Detectives said they discovered that Griffin had shared sexually explicit photos of children as young as five with other users of the social media app "Kik."
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A police review of Griffin's Kik account also revealed that the 73-year-old had exchanged messages with a 15-year-old girl from Arkansas. According to the arrest report, the conversations between the elderly man and the minor were sexual in nature.
An investigation into Griffin began in October 2020, after SnapChat sent a tip to the National Center for Missing or Exploited Children (NCMEC) in August 2020.
Griffin, who was previously an associate professor of air traffic management at Embry-Riddle, is being held in the Volusia County Jail.
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Riverbend Church in Ormond Beach removed Griffin from his pastor position the day he was first arrested by DBPD.
Brian Giaquinto, an elder at Riverbend, told Baptist Press : “As soon as we learned of the arrest, we immediately removed him and relieved him of all responsibilities.” At the same time, the church said there had been no allegations from its members against Griffin, but it plans to conduct its own investigation into the former pastor.
Information source: infosecurity-magazine.com
