Investigation uncovers house of horrors on boat after father arrested on child pornography charges

A married father of five has been accused of filming himself molesting children on his houseboat in the Florida Keys and then posting the gruesome footage online.

Eric Cadogan, 39, was previously sentenced last month to 20 years in prison for possessing child pornography.

On Tuesday, the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office announced Cadogan’s arrest on child abuse charges, including incest, sexual assault, child abuse, contributing to the delinquency of a child and lewd and lascivious conduct with a child.

Probable cause statement first seen by Miami Heralddetails numerous incidents in which Cadogan allegedly had sexual intercourse with children, encouraged them to engage in sex acts with him, and filmed them on his mobile phone.

All of the alleged crimes occurred on his sailboat, which had been docked in the harbor in Marathon, Middle Keys, since 2019. Authorities said his wife, Kia Cadogan, 34, and their children lived on board the boat with him.

Cadogan was arrested in December 2023 for distributing child pornography, including offering a man hundreds of images of minors having sex through an encrypted app, police said. The man turned out to be an undercover agent.

According to police, the shocking photos show the man wearing a distinctive set of bracelets that match the jewelry found in Cadogan’s bedroom at his Wisconsin home.

Cadogan’s wife, Kia, told FBI agents she had molested a child, which led to her arrest in January and an investigation by the sheriff’s office. She also claimed her husband forced her to sexually molest a minor, which detectives say is untrue.

“She was also a co-conspirator,” Sheriff Rick Ramsay said in a statement. The mother is currently in county jail on $550,000 bail, awaiting trial.

“I and the men and women of the Sheriff’s Office are committed to protecting the most vulnerable among us — our children,” Ramsay said.

Authorities said Cadogan is being held on $2.2 million bail and his children have been detained.

“I want to commend the detectives in the Major Crimes Division of the Sheriff’s Office and our law enforcement partners who worked to bring these two suspects to justice,” he added.