Federal child porn investigation in the Florida Keys ends with an arrest in Wisconsin

A Wisconsin man is facing child pornography charges stemming from images and videos the FBI said he shared with an undercover federal agent in an online chatroom while he was living on a sailboat with his wife and seven children in the Florida Keys earlier this year, according to court documents.

This one, however, is unlike most child pornography cases in which adults are accused of trading horrific imagery of minors being raped. In its Dec. 7 criminal complaint, the FBI said the man, Eric Edward Cadogan, appears to have taken part in filming at least one video that agents found on a cell phone.

The man in the video, which the FBI said depicts the rape of a minor, is shown wearing a black bracelet with a silver emblem. Agents also noted they found that same bracelet while conducting a search warrant on Cadogan’s home in La Crosse, Wisconsin, on Dec. 7.

The next day, Codagan, 39, was arrested on a felony domestic battery charge after being accused of breaking a woman’s hand in November, according to a La Crosse County Sheriff’s Department Dec. 8 criminal complaint that the Miami Herald obtained. It’s unclear whether he posted bond.

The FBI also did not immediately respond when asked if Cadogan had been detained on the child porn charges. But documents from federal court in Wisconsin reveal he signed a form Monday stating he preferred his detention hearing to be before a South Florida judge.

How the FBI tracked him down

The investigation began in May when an undercover agent went on on the social media site, Kik. The agent then began messaging with the administrator of a chatroom titled “Family Loving,” accompanied by a hashtag, “IncextandChill,” according to the complaint. The administrator went under the handle, “livelife4fun69.”

Agents say the handle belongs to Cadogan, who announced on the chat, according to the complaint, that he would send “30 videos of your preferred style to whomever that can send 30 bucks to a designated cash app!”

When the agent engaged in an direct online conversation with Cadogan, he said he was the “lucky father of kids ranging in ages from 5 to 15,” the complaint states.

In the same conversation, the agent asked Cadogan if he had child pornography images, and he responded he “had 100 of videos n pictures,” and that he needed money and would sell as many as the agent wanted, according to the complaint.

On July 1, the agent sent a direct message to Cadogan asking for images and videos. Cadogan, according to the complaint, responded, “Absolutely. A dollar per 5 minute video or less.”

Cadogan directed the agent to a cash app account under the name “$EricCadogan,” telling the agent the person registered to the account “was a friend,” the complaint states.

“Livelife4fun69,” which the FBI says is Cadogan, then sent the agent a file that contained one image and three videos “depicting child pornography,” according to the complaint.

Later in May, MediaLab, which owns Kik, provided records to the FBI that “Livelife4fun69” was created in April and registered to an email address that Google confirmed to agents in July belonged to Cadogan, according to the complaint.

On July 31, Block, Inc. the owner of the cash app Cadogan directed the agent to, confirmed to the FBI that Cadogan owned the account, “$EricCadogan.”

An investigation that spanned multiple states

To set up the cash app account, Cadogan used his address at the Marathon marina, according to the FBI. Law enforcement went to the marina and learned that he moved in June, according to the complaint.

Court documents show the investigation spanned two more states, with local police departments in Wildwood, New Jersey, and La Crosse, Wisconsin, questioning Cadogan. When Wildwood detectives got in touch with Cadogan in July, he told them he moved to Wisconsin.

Police in Wisconsin obtained the cell phone of another person that contained text messages to and from Cadogan, including ones “referencing nude images and videos of minors,” the complaint states.

It was on that phone where investigators found a video of a man wearing the black bracelet raping a child, the complaint states.

A family member told agents earlier this month that the bracelet belonged to Cadogan. Then on Dec. 7, federal agents searching his Wisconsin home “located a similar bracelet in Cadogan’s bedroom,” the complaint states.

That same day, agents interviewed a woman who detailed how Cadogan “forced” her to have intercourse with an 8-year-old boy, according to the complaint.