Marion County Man Pleads Guilty To Attempting To Meet A Minor To Engage In Sexual Activity

Ocala, Florida – United States Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe announces that Shawn Adampeter Grunther (42, Marion County) has pleaded guilty to attempted enticement of a minor to engage in sexual activity. Grunther faces a minimum penalty of 10 years, up to life, in federal prison. A sentencing date has not yet been set.

According to the plea agreement, in July 2025, a Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) special agent posed online as a 14-year-old girl (UC). Grunther messaged the UC account, and after learning the minor’s age, engaged in a sexually explicit conversation. On July 24, 2025, Grunther was arrested when he traveled to a location in Marion County to meet the UC to engage in sexual activity.

This case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations and the Marion County Sheriff’s Office. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Sarah Janette Swartzberg.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.