The United States Department of Justice recently reported that a onetime Aiken County, South Carolina educator was sentenced to over 11 years in prison for sexually exploiting a minor.
Jonathan Eugene Grantham, 45, was given a sentence of 140 months after he confessed to sexually exploiting a Columbia County, Georgia minor, according to a news release.
U.S. Attorney David Estes said that the crime was heinous, given Grantham’s occupation.
“Jonathan Grantham’s field of employment made it even more despicable that he participated in the depraved interstate sex trafficking of a child, and he deservedly will serve substantial prison time for his crimes,” Estes said.
The Department of Justice reported that when Grantham was arrested in February 2021, he was teaching Ridge Spring-Monetta High School in Ridge Spring, South Carolina and was fired, according to a news release.
A news release reported that Grantham will have to pay $50,000 in restitution and will be on supervised release upon leaving prison, along with registering as a sex offender.
“It is tremendously upsetting that someone in a position entrusted to care for our children was involved in taking advantage of and sexually exploiting a minor,” said Chris Hacker, Special Agent in Charge of FBI Atlanta. “The FBI will spare no resource when it comes to bringing child predators, like Grantham, to justice.”
