ANDY NGO REPORTS: Oregon drag queen arrested over child sex crimes at home salon

Drag queen Eron David Griffin, who performed under the name “Stella Mess,” is accused of sexually abusing minors at his part-time home salon business. According to Salem Police, an investigation was launched in October last year after multiple minors reported being victims of sexual contact at his home.

Eron David Griffin, of Salem, Ore., has been charged with child sex crimes

The 42-year-old was arrested in November but police publicized the investigation and arrest this week due to the belief that there may be more victims. Griffin was charged with three counts of third-degree sexual abuse and commercial sexual solicitation.

As “Stella Mess,” Griffin performed in the Oregon drag circuit where he befriended fellow drag performer “Alwaiz Craving” (always craving), the stage name of Kelsey Meta Boren. Boren was convicted in Lane County, Ore. last year of 11 felony counts of encouraging child sexual abuse in the first degree. Boren had worked at an elementary school and was a drag queen ambassador for a queer nonprofit in Oregon.

Eron Griffin worked the Oregon drag queen circuit as ‘Stella Mess’

Eron Griffin is friends with Kelsey Meta Boren, a popular Oregon drag queen named ‘Alwaiz Craving’ who became a convicted pedophile in 2023

Griffin is the latest drag queen to be charged with child sex crimes. In March 2019, the Houston Public Library issued an apology after a Drag Queen Storytime performer was revealed to be a convicted child sex offender. Albert Alfonso Garza, a trans performer who used the drag name “Tatiana Mala Niña,” had a prior conviction for sexually assaulting an 8-year-old boy in Texas. A second drag queen who performed at the Houston Public Library’s drag events was also revealed to have been convicted of sex crimes against children while a teen. In June 2022, central Pennsylvania drag queen and LGBTQ+ youth advocate “Anastasia Diamond,” real name Brice Williams, was charged with 25 counts of child pornography.

Albert Alfonso Garza, a trans person who performed for children at Houston libraries had a prior child sex crime conviction

Griffin’s recent arrest is not his first run-in with the law. In 2002, he was charged with third-degree sexual abuse, attempt to commit a class B felony and two counts of felony delivering a controlled substance to a minor. He was convicted of the drug charges involving a minor and sentenced to probation.

Griffin has pleaded not guilty to all the new charges against him over his recent arrest. He was released without bail last year and ordered to stay away from the alleged victims. His next court date is scheduled for March 4.

Salem Police ask that other victims or those with information contact Detective Sabrina Hunter at 503-540-2443.