Miami Police has released new body camera footage of an alarming arrest of a church driver accused of sending sexually explicit messages to a 13-year-old girl.
The footage shows officers taking 23-year-old Elvin Daniel Ortiz Cruz, who worked as a driver for Ministerio Internacional Jesús El Salvador on Northwest 23rd Street, into custody.
Ortiz Cruz appeared before a judge on Monday.
He faces multiple felony charges including promoting sexual performance by a child, electronic transmission harmful to a minor, and soliciting and luring a child to engage in sex.
Authorities said he used the van that gave him access to the girl when he began picking her up and dropping her off to church classes in 2024.
According to detectives, their investigation began on Nov. 3, when the girl’s mother discovered disturbing messages on her phone and reported it to police.
“It appears that the church employee had requested several inappropriate photos from that minor as well as requested to engage in a sexually inappropriate phone conversations with that minor,” Miami Police spokesperson Kiara Delva said.
Miami Police Department detectives from the Special Victims and Internet Crimes Against Children units gathered evidence against Ortiz Cruz, working on an undercover operation where an officer posed as the teen girl, exchanging messages with him for several days.
“I took over that account. I’ve been chatting with this individual for the last two weeks, inappropriate texting back and forth,” a police officer is heard saying in his cruiser.
Ortiz Cruz remains behind bars and placed under an immigration hold.
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