A Mount Pleasant, Tennessee, man was sentenced to federal prison today for child exploitation charges, announced U.S. Attorney Henry C. Leventis.
Clinton Shawn Gransden, 44, was sentenced to 40 years in prison for the production, receipt, transportation, and possession of child pornography, followed by supervised release for life.
Over the course of several months in 2019, Gransden repeatedly provided a minor teenage girl with alcohol, methamphetamines, and cocaine. While she was under the influence of those substances, he filmed the victim performing sex acts with him and others, and otherwise controlled and degraded her. Gransden also forced a prepubescent girl to perform oral sex on him.
The sexual abuse videos that Gransden created were posted online, where individuals acquainted with the teenage victim saw them and reported the crime to the authorities. Investigators searched Gransden’s electronic devices and discovered the sexual abuse videos as well as evidence that Gransden had sent the videos to others. Investigators also found evidence that Gransden downloaded and possessed child pornography depicting the victims.
A federal grand jury indicted Gransden on nine counts of producing child pornography and one count each of transporting, receiving, and possessing child pornography. On February 2, 2023, Gransden pleaded guilty to all the charges.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations and the Maury County Sherriff’s Office investigated the case, with assistance from the FBI. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney S. Carran Daughtrey and Trial Attorneys Austin M. Berry and Adam Braskich of the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section.
The case against Gransden’s co-defendants Angel Morales Depasquale and Michelle E. Klen remain pending and they are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
