MIAMI — Miami police arrested a church van driver after they said he had an inappropriate relationship with a 13-year-old girl whom he would drive to services. They say she may not be his only victim.
Investigators with the Miami Police Department said Elvin Daniel Ortiz Cruz, 23, drove on behalf of Ministerio Internacional Jesús El Salvador, located at 2300 NW 23rd St. in the city’s Allapattah neighborhood, near the Museum of Sex.
Authorities said the girl’s mother went to the Miami Police Department on Nov. 3 to report suspicious WhatsApp messages between her daughter and Ortiz that she found after doing a random phone check.
One of Ortiz’s messages, according to an MPD arrest report, said in Spanish, “You don’t want to talk if you are not going to respond anymore. Delete this chat and send me a screenshot. Be careful, pinky promise.”
Police said the girl’s mother also found several video calls.
According to investigators, the victim told police that Ortiz “would pick her up Mondays through Sundays to attend a class at the church” beginning in 2024.
The two started texting after the victim began “liking his posts on WhatsApp about his dog,” the report states.
The report states that this year, his text messages became more explicit. Police said he also asked her to send nude pictures and detectives discovered that she sent him photos “exposing her breasts, stomach and buttocks.”
Police said Ortiz “would always instruct her to delete their chats after their conversation was over and to send him a screenshot of the deleted chat as proof.”
Authorities went to the church to arrest Ortiz on Sunday. Investigators said he admitted to sending the lewd messages.
Police arrested him on charges of child solicitation, electronic transmission harmful to a minor and promoting the sexual performance of a child.
“Detectives believe that due to his regular access to children, there may be additional victims and are encouraging them to come forward,” Officer Kiara Delva, an MPD spokesperson, said in a news release Monday.
Police urged additional victims or their parents to call MPD’s Special Victims Unit at 305-603-6300 or Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-8477.
As of Monday, Ortiz remained behind bars with a bond listed as “to be set.”
The Honduran national also has an immigration hold, records show.
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