Lawrence man faces at least 4.5 years in prison after court finds him guilty of inappropriate behavior with boy

photo by: Kim Callahan/Journal-World

John Grant Redding (left) appears in Douglas County Superior Court on Thursday, August 29, 2024, with his attorney, Michael Clarke.

A Lawrence man faces a minimum of 4.5 years in prison and 25 years as a registered sex offender after being found guilty Thursday in Douglas County District Court of electronic solicitation of a child.

The suspect, John Grant Redding, 38, pleaded no contest to a charge of solicitation of a felony after his attorney, Michael Clarke, and Douglas County District Attorney Suzanne Valdez reached a plea agreement that would see other charges dropped and Redding no longer be allowed to argue for a reduced sentence at sentencing.

Valdez, who provided a factual basis for the request to Judge Amy Hanley, said that in May 2022, the mother of a boy in Shawnee County reported that her son had been communicating with someone online and a nude photo had been exchanged. It was then discovered that a person identifying himself as “CrazyGrant418” had been inappropriately communicating with her son and other minors while playing the online game Fortnite. That adult male was eventually identified by the Kansas Bureau of Investigation as Redding, who was arrested in January and posted $100,000 bond.

Redding was originally charged with one count of sexual exploitation of a minor by promoting a sex act with the intent to distribute a recording or photograph of the act. The charge involved a child under the age of 13, an off-grid offense that could have resulted in a life sentence. Redding also faced one count of aggravated indecent assault of a child involving a second child under the age of 13, one count of aggravated harassment of a child, and one count of promoting obscenity to children.

By pleading guilty to the single electronic solicitation charge, Redding faces at least 4.5 years in prison and possibly more, depending on the findings of a preliminary investigation. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 23.

Redding has had run-ins with the law before for crimes involving minors. In 2018, he pleaded guilty to two counts of contributing to child abuse and one count of unlawfully receiving minors to drink alcohol.