PEMBROKE PINES, Fla. — An 18-year-old Pembroke Pines man is facing a felony child solicitation charge after he was accused of engaging in lewd conduct with children he interacted with on the online game Roblox.
According to an arrest report from the Pembroke Pines Police Department, authorities received a tip from Roblox “concerning the online solicitation of a minor” in November 2025, the same month the platform announced new age verification measures designed to keep children from chatting with adults, CNN reported.
The report states that Roblox identified Manuel Eduardo Rodriguez as “enticing children to video chat while exposing the child’s genital(s) in exchange for Robux,” which is a form of currency used within the application.
According to an arrest report obtained on Friday, the victim from the November report was an 8-year-old girl. Police said he received two sexually explicit videos from her.
Additionally, the report states that Rodriguez admitted to “provid(ing) Robux to minors in the past for sexually explicit photos or videos.”
Roblox later clarified to Local 10 News that its platform doesn’t allow for video chats. The report doesn’t state how Rodriguez is alleged to have received the explicit content.
Roblox has been the subject of lawsuits over child safety issues on its platform, including one from a Miami-Dade mother in which she accused it ― and the app Discord ― of enabling a pedophile to seduce her 11-year-old daughter online and then rape her.
In the article regarding the lawsuit from state attorneys general and its new age verification measures, a Roblox spokesperson told CNN that the company’s “priority is safety and civility” and it aims to provide “a safe, positive, age-appropriate experience for everybody.”
A Roblox spokesperson, in a statement to Local 10 News, said “Roblox takes child safety very seriously and we have zero tolerance for illegal activity on our platform.”
“We take swift action against those found to be breaking our rules and work in close coordination with law enforcement to hold bad actors accountable,” the spokesperson said. “On Roblox it is impossible to share images or videos in chat and we deploy rigorous filters that are designed to prevent the exchange of personal information and attempts to move conversations off platform. While no system can be perfect, our commitment to safety never ends, and we continue to evolve and strengthen our protections every day.”
Records show Rodriguez was being held in the Broward Main Jail on a $10,000 bond as of Thursday evening.
Editor’s note: The original version of this article stated, citing the arrest report, that the video chats occurred through Roblox. A Roblox spokesperson later clarified that the platform does not allow video chatting. The article has since been updated.
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