Former South Plainfield Police Captain Charged with Sexually Exploiting a Minor

TRENTON, NJ—A former South Plainfield, New Jersey Police captain is charged with the sexual exploitation of a minor female after enticing the girl to live-stream sexually explicit acts via the Internet, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

Michael Grennier, 50, of South Plainfield, New Jersey, is charged by complaint with one count of sexual exploitation of a child. Grennier appeared today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Tonianne J. Bongiovanni and was detained.

According to the complaint:

Special agents of the FBI executed a consent search of the New Jersey home of “Jane Doe,” a minor female, on February 15, 2013. Jane Doe stated in an interview that day that for several years Grennier paid her for photographs and video of herself naked and partially clothed. Grennier had also paid Jane Doe and another minor female, “Mary Roe,” to engage in sexually explicit conduct in hotel rooms, which Grennier videotaped. Grennier paid Jane Doe to perform sexually explicit acts while Grennier watched via webcam from another computer. The last time Grennier enticed Jane Doe to do this was at approximately 10:30 p.m. on February 14, 2013, according to Jane Doe. This was confirmed by text messages between Grennier and Jane Doe on February 14, 2013, at approximately that time. As payment for those acts, Grennier was going to purchase approximately $175 worth of merchandise for Jane Doe.

The charge of sexual exploitation of children carries a mandatory minimum penalty of 15 years in prison, a maximum potential penalty of 30 years in prison, and a $250,000 fine.

U.S. Attorney Fishman credited the FBI Child Exploitation Task Force, under the direction of Acting Special Agent in Charge David Velazquez in Newark, with the investigation leading to the federal charges. Fishman also thanked the South Plainfield Borough Police Department, under the direction of Chief of Police James Parker, and the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office, under the direction of Prosecutor Bruce J. Kaplan, for their assistance with the investigation.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS) in the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Harvey Bartle of the U.S. Attorney’s Trenton Office.

The charge and allegations contained in the complaint are merely accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.