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A Sierra Vista woman who was molested for years as a child will spend eight years in prison after pleading guilty to two counts of felony child abuse involving her own children and a single count of attempting to involve another minor in a drug offense.
Tianna E. Grant was sentenced earlier this month by Judge Laura Cardinal of the Cochise County Superior Court under the terms of a plea agreement negotiated in May. Once released from prison, Grant will be on lifetime probation, the judge ordered.
Grant, 28, was taken into custody in July 2021 along with her boyfriend Carl Stephen King after a 11-year-old friend of the family reported she was sexually molested by King at the couple’s home. The two child abuse charges Grant pleaded guilty to involve members of her family while the drug charge involves the 11-year-old.
Shortly after the arrests, one of the investigators described the relationship between King, Grant, and various children who frequently lived in or visited the couple’s home as “textbook grooming.”
A county grand jury indicted Grant on seven felonies while King was indicted with eight counts. Grant’s plea deal guaranteed a felony count which alleged she furnished “obscene or harmful items to a minor” by giving sex toys to the 11-year-old would be dismissed.
Also dismissed were two counts which alleged Grant solicited sexual conduct with two other victims.
In two handwritten letters given to the judge prior to sentencing, Grant documented the horrific abuse she experienced as a child, some of which resulted in a relative going to prison for molestation. She told Cardinal of initially being “upset and fearful of my future in prison” but since being jailed she has come to understand “life is all about perspective.”
Grant now looks at prison “as an opportunity to outgrow certain habits I believed to be normal and to undo the damage that my childhood role (models) had me believing was loving behavior,” she told the judge.
She also told Cardinal that it “hurts that I will be apart from my children for so long but I will be able to work on myself without passing down broken morals that I grew up to believe were acceptable. I am sure I will be a more positive influence on my children upon my release from the Department of Corrections.”
Court records show prosecution of Grant’s case was delayed last year after questions of her competency to understand the criminal charges and adequately participate in court proceedings were raised by her then-defense attorney. One of Grant’s letters to the judge recounted alcohol abuse she dealt with as a child as well as mental health treatment over the years which required medication.
Cardinal imposed sentence on Sept. 7 and ordered that Grant receive credit toward her prison term for 399 days spent in jail awaiting resolution of her case. The judge did not require Grant to register as a sex offender.
King, 47, is slated to meet next month with his court-appointed attorney, the Cochise County Attorney’s Office, and a different judge in an effort to reach a non-trial resolution in his case. He will then appear in front of Cardinal on Nov. 7 for either a change of plea hearing or a pretrial conference.
Court records show King faces at least 40 years in prison if convicted of all counts at trial. Like Grant, King has remained in the Cochise County jail since his arrest due to being unable to post a pretrial bond.
READ MORE MORE ABOUT THE CASE HERE
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