Man Gets 18 Months in Online Solicitation Case

A former Pennsylvania business executive was sentenced to 18 months in prison Thursday after pleading guilty to felony charges of using the Internet to arrange a sexual encounter with a 12-year-old boy.

Edward Rodriguez, 39, of South White Hall Township, Pa., met an undercover Huntington Beach police officer Sept. 27 in a sexually explicit Internet chat room, and arranged to have sex with the officer’s son--a fictitious character.

Rodriguez, a former controller who lived in an upscale development just outside Allentown, Pa., flew to Orange County in October for the meeting and was arrested at a Huntington Beach hotel the next day. Police said they found sexual aids the man intended to use in the encounter.

He pleaded guilty Thursday during a pretrial hearing in Municipal Court in Westminster to soliciting a lewd act on a child and two counts of attempted lewd conduct on a child.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Camille Hill said she sought a maximum four-year prison sentence, calling the case “aggravated.”

“We’re talking about somebody who left Pennsylvania to fly across the country for the sole purpose of meeting with and molesting a child,” Hill said. “He had explicit plans for the sex acts he was going to do with this child.

“It’s just fortunate there wasn’t a real child,” Hill added.

Municipal Judge Corey Cramin cited Rodriguez’s lack of a criminal record and his early guilty plea as factors in issuing a shorter sentence, attorneys said.

“Mr. Rodriguez had never in his life been arrested for anything, let alone convicted,” defense attorney Steven Cron said. “He had an exemplary work history. . . . He is a family man who has raised three children. He has suffered a lot as a result of his actions.”

Cron said his client had lost his job and was going through a difficult time when he was arrested.

“I do not believe in any way he is a pedophile,” Cron said. “I am convinced he will turn this around and move on with his life.”

Rodriguez has been jailed since his arrest and could be eligible for parole in six months with credit for good behavior and time already served.

The case was among the first in Orange County involving illegal sex solicitation on the Internet.

Police in Huntington Beach have since arrested a Washington man on suspicion of using the Internet to arrange sex with a police detective posing as a 13-year-old boy. Huntington Beach officers have also made recent arrests in three cases involving suspected distribution of child pornography on the Internet.

Rodriguez still faces possible federal charges because his crime involved crossing state lines, Hill said.