MONROE COUNTY, Fla. – Authorities have captured a Wisconsin man wanted in South Florida after the FBI accused him of raping minors and sharing child sexual abuse material images and videos with an undercover federal agent in an online chatroom while he was living on a boat with his wife and seven children earlier this year.
In its Dec. 7 criminal complaint, the FBI said Eric Edward Cadogan, 39, of La Crosse, appeared to have taken part in filming at least one video that agents found on a cellphone.
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The man in the video, which depicts the rape of a female minor, was shown wearing a black bracelet with a silver emblem, according to the FBI. Authorities also noted they found that same bracelet while conducting a search warrant on Cadogan’s home in La Crosse, Wisconsin, on Dec. 7.
According to the complaint, the FBI began their investigation in May when an undercover agent went on the social media site, Kik to start a conversation with Cadogan.
The agent then began messaging with the administrator of a chatroom titled “Family Loving,” accompanied by a hashtag, “IncextandChill,” the complaint stated.
Authorities said Cadogan went under the handle, “livelife4fun69″ and said he would send “30 videos of your preferred style to whomever can send 30 bucks to a designated cash app!”
When the agent engaged in a direct online conversation with Cadogan, he said he was the “lucky father of kids ranging in ages from 5 to 15,” the complaint states. In that same conversation, the agent asked Cadogan if he had child pornography images, and he responded he “had 100 videos n pictures,” and that he “needed money” and would sell as many as the agent wanted, according to investigators.
After the undercover agent sent a direct message to Cadogan on July 31 asking to see images and videos, Cadogan responded, “Absolutely. A dollar per 5 minute video or less,” according to the complaint.
Cadogan sent money to the agent through Cash App, telling the agent the person registered to the account “was a friend,” the complaint states.
The FBI said Cadogan then sent the agent a file that contained one image and three videos “depicting child pornography and files that contained images of prepubescent female children, nude or mostly nude in sexually explicit poses, and/or performing sex acts,” according to the complaint.
In late May, MediaLab, which owns Kik, provided records to the FBI that “Livelife4fun69″ was created in April and registered to an email address that Google confirmed to agents in July belonged to Cadogan, authorities said.
According to the FBI, Cadogan used his address at the Marathon marina to set up the Cash App account used to pay the undercover agent.
Law enforcement officials said they went to the marina and learned that Cadogan moved out in June, however, court documents show the investigation spanned two more states, with local police departments in Wildwood, New Jersey, and La Crosse, Wisconsin, questioning Cadogan.
Police in Wisconsin obtained the cellphone of another person that contained text messages to and from Cadogan, including ones “referencing nude images and videos of minors,” the complaint states. It was on that phone where investigators found a video of a man wearing the black bracelet raping a child, authorities said.
A family member told agents earlier this month that the bracelet belonged to Cadogan. Then, on Dec. 7, federal agents searching his Wisconsin home “located a similar bracelet in Cadogan’s bedroom,” the complaint states. That same day, agents interviewed a woman who detailed how Cadogan “forced” her to have intercourse with an 8-year-old boy, the complaint stated.
It’s unclear if Cadogan is being held without bond.
Court records show Cadogan was arrested Dec. 8 on a felony domestic battery charge after being accused of breaking his wife’s wrist in November.
Local 10 News reporter Janine Stanwood contributed to this story.