U.S. Attorney’s Office November
21, 2014 • District of New Jersey (973) 645-2888
TRENTON, NJ—A former South
Plainfield police captain was sentenced today to 20 years in prison for
exploiting a minor girl by enticing her to live-stream sexually explicit acts
via the Internet in exchange for payment, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman
announced.
Michael Grennier, 52, of South
Plainfield, New Jersey, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge
Freda L. Wolfson to an information charging him with one count of production of
child pornography. Grennier was charged by complaint on Feb. 19, 2013, and has
been in custody since that date. Judge Wolfson imposed the sentence today in
Trenton federal court.
According to documents filed in
this case and statements made in court:
On Feb. 14, 2013, Grennier
enticed a girl to perform sexually explicit acts and stream images of herself
over the Internet while he watched remotely from his home computer. During the
webcam session, Grennier exchanged text messages with the minor in which he
directed her actions. Grennier admitted during his guilty plea proceeding that
he promised to buy his victim clothing in exchange for her performance.
At the time of his arrest,
Grennier was working for a private computer forensics firm. Prior to his
retirement, he was a computer forensics specialist for the South Plainfield
Police Department.
In addition to the prison term,
Judge Wolfson sentenced Grennier to serve lifetime supervised release.
Restitution will be determined at a later date. Grennier will also be required
to register as a sex offender.
U.S. Attorney Fishman credited
special agents of the FBI’s Child Exploitation Task Force, under the direction
of Special Agent in Charge Aaron T. Ford, for the investigation leading to
today’s plea. He also thanked the South Plainfield Police Department, under the
direction of Chief of Police James Parker, and the Middlesex County
Prosecutor’s Office, under the direction of Acting Prosecutor Andrew Carey, for
their assistance with the investigation leading to today’s sentencing.
The government is represented
by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Fabiana Pierre-Louis of the U.S. Attorney’s Office
Criminal Division in Trenton and Harvey Bartle, the Attorney-in-Charge of the
U.S. Attorney’s Trenton Office.