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Baltimore resident Garnell Eugene Graves, 58, pleaded guilty in federal court to four counts of sexual exploitation of a child in relation to the sexual abuse of five minor victims, federal prosecutors announced.
As part of his plea, Graves admitted that between 2007 and 2020, he abused minors between the ages of 6 and 13 years old.
Beginning in 2007, Graves frequently sexually abused a minor until she was 13 years old, showing her and a friend adult porn when she was between the ages of 8 and 9 while asking them to mirror acts seen in the videos, authorities said.
Graves had oral and vaginal sex with the minor repeatedly over the course of several years, recording some of the encounters and later showing the minor videos of the abuse.
In exchange, the minor received gifts, including a smartphone, prosecutors said, for her “forgiveness” and to encourage her not to alert her mother.
During their rendezvous, Graves also hid a camera in the girl’s bedroom and recorded videos of her in different stages of undress, authorities said. Approximately 10 videos from the bedroom were recovered from Graves’ digital devices upon his arrest.
Graves also recorded himself sexually abusing a 12-year-old minor who was reportedly sleeping, and targeted two others between the ages of 6 and 13, showing recordings of himself sexually abusing previous victims.
Videos and images of him abusing the victims were recorded and located on his digital devices by investigators.
In 1991, Graves was convicted of taking indecent liberties with a minor child in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. In 1998, Graves was convicted of a third-degree sexual offense in the Circuit Court for Prince George’s County.
Graves faces a mandatory minimum of 25 years and a maximum of 50 years in federal prison on each of the sexual exploitation of a child charges, followed by a lifetime of supervised release.
“Not only did Graves inflict abuse on generations of victims, molest minor victims, and sexually abuse children for over a decade, but he also threatened to sexually abuse other children if the victims attempted to end the cycle of abuse,” Erek Barron, the US Attorney for the District of Maryland said in a statement.
“Our office will continue to obtain justice for child abuse survivors and actively prosecute predators who abuse the most vulnerable among us.”
Sentencing has been scheduled for Feb. 7, 2023.
“Mr. Graves displayed horrific and disturbing behavior victimizing innocent children over and over again," Thomas Sobocinski, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Baltimore Field Office added.
"The FBI and our law enforcement partners will continue to do everything in our power to hold perpetrators accountable and to protect others from harm."
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