Former aide to Miami Mayor sentenced to 6 years in prison for child porn

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Rene Pedrosa, a former aide to Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, is heading to federal prison on child pornography charges.

U.S. District Judge Robert Scola sentenced Pedrosa to six years behind bars. Once released, he will be subject to 15 years of supervision. He’ll also have to register as a sex offender.

Pedrosa is to surrender to U.S. Marshals on Wednesday, according to NBC 6.

A longtime journalist whom Suarez hired as a spokesperson in early 2019, Pedrosa pleaded guilty in May to receiving images of a minor’s private parts on his cellphone.

In exchange for the plea, prosecutors Jessica Obenauf and Dayron Silverio dropped other charges against the 51-year-old, including producing child porn and enticing a minor into sexual activity.

The minor in question was a 16-year-old boy Pedrosa reportedly lured to City Hall with the promise of hiring him as a web designer. The two first met in November 2019, according to a statement viewed by the Miami Herald.

At their second meeting, the statement said, Pedrosa groped the teen and had the boy touch him back. He then continued communicating with the minor on WhatsApp, an internet messaging system through which he received “close-up visual depictions of the minor victim’s naked penis and body that the (teen) took while showering,” the statement said. “The images depicted the minor victim engaged in sexually explicit conduct and therefore constitute child pornography.”

Investigators also obtained texts between the two in which Pedrosa invited the victim to his home for sex. The teen declined, reminding Pedrosa he was a minor.

Miami police first investigated the case, which the city’s FBI branch subsequently took over and worked alongside U.S. Attorney Markenzy Lapointe’s office to prosecute Pedrosa.

Pedrosa resigned from his job at City Hall in early 2020 shortly before the battery and child pornography charges were brought against him.

Prior to the plea deal, he faced a prison term of up to 20 years.

In February 2021, the Miami City Commission approved a $100,000 payment to the teen.

Suarez, who is running for President, told CBS Miami Monday before Scola’s sentencing that his thoughts were with the victim. He said he hoped justice would be “taken care of in a swift manner and to the full extent of the law.”