A 30-year-old Winston-Salem woman who befriended a 14-year-old boy on Facebook using the name Nino Brown, a character from the movie "New Jack City," was convicted Monday on charges she had sex with the boy last year.
Gridonia Eugenia Grussi of 1825 Franciscan Drive, Apt. A, pleaded guilty in Forsyth Superior Court to statutory rape and taking indecent liberties with a child. Judge William Z. Wood sentenced Grussi to 9 years, to 10 years and 10 months in prison. She also will have to register as a sex offender for 30 years.
Grussi and the boy met through Facebook, Assistant District Attorney Kia Chavious said. On the social networking site, Grussi had a profile using the name Nino Brown.
Nino Brown refers to the fictional New York City drug dealer Wesley Snipes played in the 1991 movie.
Grussi invited the boy to a party at a friend's house, where the two had sex, Chavious said. The boy told Winston-Salem police that he and Grussi had sex on two different occasions. Grussi initially denied the two had a relationship but later said they had sex once, Chavious said.
Grussi said in earlier statements to police that the boy had told her he was 18, but the mother had confronted Grussi, telling her that her son was 14, Chavious said. After the confrontation, Grussi continued to contact the boy, she said.
It took awhile to charge Grussi because she had a number of different aliases, Chavious said. The boy was able to pick out Grussi from a photo line-up, and Winston-Salem police used computer forensics to confirm that the Facebook profile belonged to Grussi.
Ronald Short, Grussi's attorney, said Grussi acknowledged what she did early in the investigation. He said in court that Grussi is a college graduate and has two daughters. "This is one of those cases that baffled me from Day One," he said.
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