Registered Sex Offender Arrested During Sting Faces Judge

A 56-year-old registered sex offender pleaded guilty Friday to charges stemming from a sting targeting sexual predators and was immediately sentenced to three years in prison.

Carlton Earl Griner of Garden Grove pleaded guilty to a count each of contacting a child with intent to commit a lewd act, meeting a minor with the intent to engage in lewd conduct, and attempted lewd act on a child younger than 14, all felonies.

When Griner was busted in Huntington Beach police's underage sex sting in January he was required to register as a sex offender based on a prior conviction in Iowa for possessing child pornography, according to prosecutors.

Griner posted an ad for sex on Craigslist, which led him to exchange sexually explicit emails with an undercover investigator posing  as a 13-year- old girl, according to prosecutors.

Griner arranged to meet with the officer at a shopping center Jan. 9, at which time he was arrested.

-- City News Service