A former Florida Keys man who was sentenced to federal prison last month for possession of child pornography was arrested this week by Monroe County police on horrific allegations that he molested his own children, filmed several of the encounters and then distributed the footage.
The alleged crimes occurred on a sailboat where Eric Cadogan lived, according to the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office. It was moored at a marina in the Middle Keys town of Marathon from 2019 until the 39-year-old man returned to his home state of Wisconsin four years later.
According to investigators, his wife and five biological children lived on board with him.
Cadogan was arrested in December by the FBI in Wisconsin on charges of distributing child pornography after an undercover sting in which he offered hundreds of images of children engaged in sexual activity to a man. The man, who was chatting with him on a shady app, turned out to be an undercover agent.
In some explicit images of children, a man was wearing a bracelet that officers found in Cadogan’s bedroom in the Wisconsin home where he was arrested.
In June, he pleaded guilty to the charges and was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison.
Earlier this year, the sheriff’s office launched its own investigation after the federal investigation revealed that his wife, Kia Lynn Cadogan, told FBI agents she had abused one of the couple’s young children.
Officers arrested a 34-year-old woman in January. Her case on multiple charges of aggravated child abuse and child sexual abuse is pending while she remains in the county jail on a $550,000 bond.
On Tuesday, the sheriff’s office announced it had arrested Eric Cadogan on multiple charges including incest, sexual abuse, child abuse, participating in juvenile delinquency and lewd and indecent behavior with a child.
“I and the men and women of the Sheriff’s Office are committed to protecting the most vulnerable among us: our children,” Sheriff Rick Ramsay said in a statement. “I want to commend the Sheriff’s Office Major Crimes Detectives and our law enforcement partners who were instrumental in bringing these two suspects to justice.”
The chilling probable cause affidavit details multiple instances in which Eric Cadogan raped his children, encouraged them to perform sexual acts on each other and filmed the crimes on his cell phone.
This week, a judge ordered Cadogan to remain in jail on $2.2 million bail.
Information about the legal representation of both Cadogans was not immediately available. Authorities did not immediately respond to questions about the children’s whereabouts.
Kia Cadogan told FBI agents in December that Eric forced her to abuse their child. But Ramsay told the Herald when his investigators arrested her in January that he didn’t believe her story.
While living in the Keys, Ramsay said she had ample opportunity to report the horrific acts that allegedly occurred on the ship as she shuttled back and forth to the family’s boat.
“Our job is to protect people. When people come forward, they are protected,” Ramsay said at the time. “She was also an accomplice.”
