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Sex predator gets 40 years in plea deal

A former resident pleads guilty to multiple counts of sexual battery on three boys. He was already in prison on child porn charges.

By MICHAEL KRUSE
Published May 23, 2006

BROOKSVILLE - A former Hernando County resident already serving more than 20 years in federal prison on child porn charges got 40 more in Florida on Monday. Christopher Michael Rodriguez, 34, whose last local address was 5143 Colchester Ave. in Spring Hill, pleaded guilty to multiple counts of multiple forms of sexual battery and lewd and lascivious activities against three boys from the beginning of 1999 to the end of 2002. Two of the boys were under 16. The other was under 10.

Rodriguez was declared a sexual predator.

As part of the plea deal, David Bauer, the public defender, asked Rodriguez under oath in open court if the charges against him were true.

"Yes they are," Rodriguez said. "All of them."

"He's a perv," Assistant State Attorney Lisa Herndon said outside Circuit Judge Jack Sprinstead's courtroom after the change of plea. "He has admitted to being interested in prepubescent kids - boys, specifically."

Rodriguez, who goes by Mike and is fleshy-faced and heavyset, gained the boys' trust in part by taking them on trips to malls and to Walt Disney World, said Herndon, the prosecutor.

He performed sex acts with the boys, according to court documents and arrest reports, photographed them, filmed them and posted the pictures and videos on child porn Web sites.

Authorities tracked down Rodriguez through a serial number on a water scooter seen in some of the photos. They found about 200,000 images on his computer.

He was indicted in 2000 on charges of manufacturing, distributing and possessing child porn, and ultimately sentenced to 21 years and 10 months in the federal prison in Texarkana, Texas.

His trial in connection with the sex acts related to the case was set to start Monday.

"He knows what the outcome of a trial is going to be," Bauer said before court. Not good.

So he decided on the last-minute plea.

The 40 years will be added to the nearly 22 Rodriguez is serving right now. Part of the plea deal is that he will give investigators names and contact information of his associates in the child porn Web ring.

He was placed in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Office and taken back to Texas to finish his federal sentence.

Michael Kruse can be reached at mkruse@sptimes.com or 352 848-1434.

[Last modified May 23, 2006, 01:29:11]