Ex-official sentenced

The FBI said Clemenic was one of Grisom’s customers and specifically stated in texts to Grisom that he wanted underage girls for sex.

The case started with the arrests of adult prostitutes at Station Square who told police that Grisom, known as “digga mane” on the street, was their pimp.

Pittsburgh police set up a sting after receiving a tip about a runaway juvenile who was one of his prostitutes.

After his arrest, authorities examining his cell phone found texts from Clemenic, who wanted Grisom to send underage girls to his house in Wilmerding.

Federal prosecutors said Clemenic paid for a 15year-old girl to come to his house for sex in April 2015.

He was initially charged in state court, but the case was transferred to U.S. court.

Clemenic, who had been the public works foreman in East McKeesport for 16 years, resigned in July 2015, shortly before he entered his guilty plea.

His lawyer, Lee Rothman, said Clemenic has a solid work record, no other crimes in his past and a history of helping his community and family. He said his conduct as a john in seeking sex with underage girls, while not excusable, does not define his life.

“Rather,” Mr. Rothman said, “Mr. Clemenic is a good person who experienced a brief, dark period in his life of loneliness, humiliation and excessive drinking, which led him to seek sex on the internet.”

Clemenic and Grisom are among nine people prosecuted in this district under Project Safe Childhood since 2013. The most recent case was brought in January against two New Castle men, Ronald Hartman, 27, and David Monrean, 24, who are accused of transporting a minor from Pennsylvania to Ohio for sex in August and producing child porn.

Among the more noteworthy cases in recent years was the prosecution of Robert Middlebrook, 42, a pimp from Clairton who prostituted four underage girls, all runaways from Akron and Canton in Ohio. He is serving a dozen years in federal prison. His helper, Kiari Day of Rankin, acted as the girls’ coach in teaching them how to act with customers and taking pictures of them in lingerie for online ads.

She is serving four years in prison.