A man the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office says served as a youth pastor at a Kissimmee church, the eldest son of its lead pastor, is charged with sharing and storing child sexual abuse material.
Ezequiel Rodriguez, 22, of St. Cloud was charged Thursday with ten second-degree felony counts of possession of photos or videos of sexual performance by a child. He made an initial appearance before a judge Friday and is held in the Osceola County Jail without bond.
The Sheriff’s Office was notified by the National Center of Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) of an incident regarding an individual file sharing and storing child sexual abuse material, Sheriff’s spokesperson Kim Montes said. Based on information files discovered through an account on Kik, a messaging app, detectives with the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) unit began an investigation, which showed Rodriguez asked for “young girl” pictures in Kik chats, noting he had videos to trade, according to his arrest affidavit. Thursday, ICAC unit detectives served a search warrant signed the prior day, and 10 such videos, graphically described by detectives in the report, were discovered in Rodriguez’s Kik account while conducting the search warrant at his Stockade Boulevard home.
The Sheriff’s Office said Rodriguez, who is married according to the affidavit, was a youth pastor at Kingdom Conquerors Church in Kissimmee. "He plays an active role in Kingdom Conquerors Church in the areas of Media and Worship. He is also involved in the Youth Group, 180°," according to the church's website, which also notes he is the oldest son of Javier and Margarita Rodriguez, listed as its lead pastor and "first lady".
Anyone with information related to this case or any other similar incidents are asked to contact the Sheriff’s Office at 407-348-2222.
