Flor-Adam Cruz: Florida pedo films himself having sex with missing teen while on probation, lands back in jail
HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, FLORIDA: A man who was released from prison in July, is in prison again for having sex with an underage missing teenage girl. The perpetrator, identified as 24-year-old Flor-Adam Brandon Cruz, was arrested during Operation Social Bust, where undercover authorities posed as minors in an attempt to lure sexual predators in a trap. One of the undercover detectives, during the operation, came into contact with Cruz while posing as a teenage girl online, reports state.
Cruz reportedly was the one who initiated contact with the detective, thinking they were a minor female and began sending explicit messages, according to court documents. The 24-year-old was later arrested by authorities during a traffic stop in Brandon, according to ABC Tampa Bay. Detectives, while searching Cruz's phone, found evidence that he had used an Uber to transport a 15-year-old to himself. They reportedly engaged in sexual activities on at least two separate occasions. The girl had been reported missing out of Pinellas County, according to police. The perpetrator also recorded the sexual acts on his cellphone.
Sheriff Chad Chronister, in a statement, said: "It sickens me that this convicted sex offender continued to prey on children even after serving time in prison for his heinous acts. Had it not been for the thorough investigative work of our detectives well after Operation Social Bust ended, we would have never known about this juvenile who Cruz was taking advantage of repeatedly." Cruz, at the time of his arrest, was on probation until 2032 after his release from the Florida State Prison for lewd and lascivious battery on a minor.
The 24-year-old is now facing charges of lewd and lascivious battery, promotion of a sexual performance by a child, interference with a child custody, traveling to meet a minor using computer services/devices to solicit illegal acts, violation of probation, transmission of harmful material to a minor, unlawful use of a two-way communications device.
In another case related to a convicted pedophile rapist, serving a life sentence at a prison in California, died on Wednesday, October 14, after being attacked in his jail cell, according to officials. Deandre Austin was found unresponsive at Mule Creek State Prison (MCSP) in Ione, southeast of Sacramento. Austin had been given a life term for rape, sodomy, continued abuse of a child under 14, and a host of other sex offenses.
It is believed that an alert was sounded for "man down" in the prison and although medics rushed to Austin's cell, he was pronounced dead an hour later. Officials at the prison have now announced that they have launched an investigation into Austin's death as a homicide. They have also reportedly placed the 46-year-old's cellmate, identified as Rodney Jordan, in a segregated housing pending the results of an investigation.
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR), in a statement, said: "On Wednesday at 5.40 pm, correctional officers responding to a call of 'man down,' discovered an unresponsive Austin in his cell. Staff immediately called 911 and started life-saving measures. An MCSP doctor pronounced Austin deceased at 6.30 pm." The department added that they had received Austin from Contra Costa County on October 2, 2008, and he had been serving a life sentence with the possibility of parole rape, lewd and lascivious conduct with a child under age 14, continuous sex abuse of a child under 14, penetration with a foreign object with a victim under 14, oral copulation and sodomy.