FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Discord has marketed its gaming app as “great for just chilling with friends or building a community.” Detectives reported Edward Rodriguez exploited it to commit a crime and parents should take notice. The app is the 7th top free social networking app on the App Store and has over 100 million downloads on Google Play.
According to investigators, Rodriguez, 38, used Discord in Broward County to connect with a 13-year-old girl in west-central Florida. Detectives gathered evidence to report that he had groomed her for months during their exchanges on the app and eventually persuaded her to run away from home and get in the car with him.
In one message, Rodriguez wrote that he was going to lock her in his basement so no one could take her away from him, according to the police arrest report. The teenage girl vanished early Saturday morning from the Tampa area. Rodriguez later confessed he drove her to his home in Cooper City.
Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office deputies searched for her. Hillsborough Sheriff Chad Chronister released a statement saying deputies worked with the Broward Sheriff’s Office and the U.S. Marshals. The girl’s mother was in anguish for about three days.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement issued a “missing child alert” that was canceled on Tuesday. Broward County inmate records show BSO deputies arrested Rodriguez on Tuesday in Cooper City. During questioning, detectives reported Rodriguez admitted to knowing the consequences were serious, but he did it anyway.
The teenage girl told a detective she and Rodriguez planned to be “together forever” and she planned to be home-schooled to get her GED, according to the arrest report. Rodriguez is facing charges of lewd or lascivious molestation of a minor, and providing aid to a minor without notifying a parent or a law enforcement officer in Broward.
In Hillsborough, Rodriguez is facing one count of interference with child custody. Chronister said he expects Hillsborough prosecutors to file more charges against Rodriguez.