Miami Youth Pastor Accused Of Heinous Sex Crime

A youth pastor in Miami, Florida is now facing charges after being accused of recruiting teenage boys in order to pimp them out.

On Monday, the 52-year-old man named Ron Maurice Cooper was arrested for human trafficking, false imprisonment, and other charges according to WFLA.

The arrest report said that in January of 2013, the Miami pastor would recruit boys of the ages 16 to 18 by telling them that he would be able to get them into modeling work. He then would set up for the boys to meet a photographer, who was actually a person that was waiting to have sex with them according to the victims.

The victims said that it was their first time they had engaged in sexual intercourse with a same-sex partner. The did it because they were scared of Cooper, who they referred to as "Romeo."

In order to find more clients, Cooper allegedly posted pictures of the victims on websites such as Backpage, Craigslist, and Badoo.

Cooper has been accused of forcing the teenage boys to have sex with older men at the Miami Playground Mega Store at Northwest 27th Avenue and 36th Street, and also in various hotel rooms. The hotels that Cooper allegedly took the boys to were the Nexxt Hotel in hialeah, the Jamaica Motel on Southwest Eigth Street, and the Starlite Motel in Brickell, according to Local 10 ABC news.

"Every time they did a prostitution date, he would transport them personally to the date," a detective with the Sunny Isles Police Department said.

Cooper reportedly gave the victims crystal meth, which he called "Tina," in order to get them sexually aroused. He then took them on their way to their "dates," and would later give them Xanax, Viagra, and alcohol to help them perform sexually.

One victim recalled witnessing Cooper viciously beat two people. The boy believed that the same fate was waiting for him if he did not comply with Cooper's demands.

All of the victims said that Cooper would offer them a place to stay at his house on the condition that they would have sex with him.

Cooper's legal defense team has said that he had no prior arrests, and that he was simply working at Walmart and as a youth pastor.

The detectives on the case believe there are at least 10 victims who have not come forward.

What are your thoughts on this awful crime?

[H/T WFLA, Local 10 ABC]