Former High School Teacher Admits To Coercing Minor Online, Engaging In 'Sexual Activity'

A former high school teacher from Aiken County, South Carolina admitted to using the internet to coerce a minor from the neighboring state of Georgia "to engage in sexual activity," state prosecutors announced Wednesday.

Jonathan Eugene Grantham, 45, is awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to coercion and enticement of a minor to engage in sexual activity, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia David H. Estes said in a statement.

The Graniteville resident was serving as a teacher at Ridge Spring-Monetta High School at the time of his arrest, the statement posted on the Department of Justice's website read. He was later terminated from his position.

Grantham caught the attention of the FBI while agents were conducting a sex trafficking investigation involving other defendants, prosecutors said, citing court documents and testimonies.

Investigators discovered that Grantham traveled from South Carolina to Columbia County in Georgia to engage in an undisclosed sexual activity with an unnamed victim who was under the age of 18 in July 2019.

Grantham acknowledged contacting the victim through the internet to coerce them "to engage in sexual activity for which the defendant could be charged with a criminal offense, that is, child molestation," Grantham's plea agreement stated.

"It’s sickening to contemplate the fact that while Jonathan Grantham was serving as a high-school teacher, he was surreptitiously participating in the depraved sex trafficking of a child," Estes was quoted as saying in the USAO-SDGA statement.

"Grantham targeted and manipulated a child for his own perverse enjoyment," Special Agent in Charge of FBI Atlanta Chris Hacker said.

The former teacher faces a minimum sentence of 10 years in prison and a maximum sentence of life imprisonment after pleading guilty in the U.S. District Court to his charge, according to prosecutors.

Additionally, Grantham faces substantial financial penalties and restitution to the victim. He must also serve a minimum of five years of supervised release and register as a sex offender following completion of any prison term.

Grantham remains in federal custody while awaiting sentencing.

The case is being investigated by the FBI and prosecuted for the U.S. by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Tania G. Groover and Project Safe Childhood Coordinator Tara M. Lyons.