Columbia Woman Charged with Using Discord to Entice Minor to Engage in Sexual Activity

Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, Robert Fuller, Special Agent in Charge of the New Haven Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Connecticut State Police Colonel Daniel Loughman today announced that ALYSON CRANICK, 43, of Columbia, has been charged by federal criminal complaint with enticement of a minor to engage in sexual activity.

Cranick’s initial appearance in federal court is scheduled for tomorrow at 10:00 am in New Haven.  Cranick was arrested on related state charges on November 14, 2023, and has been detained in state custody since November 28, 2023.

As alleged in court documents and statements made in court, Cranick, first using text messaging and Snapchat, and then using the internet chat service Discord, enticed an 11-year-old boy to engage in sexually explicit conduct with her.  Several times during the summer of 2022, the minor victim sneaked out his house after midnight to meet up with Cranick to engage in sexual activity.  Between July and October 2022, Cranick exchanged more than 4,700 messages with the minor victim on Discord.

The charge of enticement of a minor to engage in sexual activity carries a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment of 10 years and a maximum term of imprisonment of life.

U.S. Attorney Avery stressed that a complaint is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt.  Charges are only allegations and a defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

This matter is being investigated by the FBI’s Child Exploitation Task Force and the Connecticut State Police’s Eastern District Major Crime Unit.  The FBI’s Child Exploitation Task Force includes federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel E. Cummings through the U.S. Department of Justice’s Project Safe Childhood Initiative, which is aimed at protecting children from sexual abuse and exploitation.

U.S. Attorney Avery thanked the State’s Attorney’s Office for the Judicial District of Tolland for its close cooperation in investigating and prosecuting this matter.

For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.

To report cases of child exploitation, please visit www.cybertipline.com.