A Madison, Wisconsin man has been arrested and charged with abducting a Madisonville, Tennessee teenager from her home.
The suspect, 31-year-old Bryan D. Rogers, was also charged in court on Monday with knowingly persuading a minor to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing a visual depiction of such conduct. Rogers is accused of traveling to the girl’s home and picking up the teen, then traveling back to Wisconsin with her, but not before traveling into Kentucky where the girl’s two cell phones were pinged by authorities near Corbin. Rogers, at some point, destroyed both of the victims’ cell phones.
Police said Rogers met the 14-year-old girl playing the online game Roblox in December 2018.
The girl’s adoptive father, 41-year-old Randall Pruitt, is accused of raping his daughter multiple times over several years.
According to multiple media reports, Monroe County, Tennessee investigators obtained a search warrant for the girl’s email and online records. They found multiple photos and a video of Pruitt having sex with the girl, which the teen victim sent to Rogers as proof she was being raped by her adoptive father.
Rogers watched the video sent to him by the girl but kept it for himself even though he admitted it clearly showed “a full-blown rape.”
Rogers and the girl’s chats soon moved from Roblox to Facebook and an encrypted messaging app, where the girl told Rogers that Pruitt was molesting her, reports KnoxNews.com. The news outlet reports that the girl told Rogers, “I can’t just stay here. If u don’t help me somehow I might as well kill my (expletive) self like I’ve been planning to do.”
The girl told Rogers that no one believed her, and Rogers hinted he might not believe her either, at least not without video proof.
“I hate to say it but I can’t risk getting in trouble for you,” Rogers wrote to the teen in one message. “If you can get that video I can get you out of there but without it you will just wind up back with (him) and I’ll be in trouble. … He’s been molesting you for 12 years. If that’s not enough of a reason to get the video then idk what else to tell you.”
Rogers offered detailed instructions in a chat with the teen for how to hide a cellphone in her room and capture the next rape, according to KnoxNews.com — “That way when he comes for you it’s already recording and you don’t have to worry about anything,” the message reads. “And I can’t help you if we don’t have foolproof leverage against (him).”
On January 10, the girl recorded a video of her adoptive father raping her and sent it to Rogers. Four days later Rogers picked up the victim from her home.
FBI agents, acting on the digital evidence and a tip, knocked at Rogers’ door Thursday. They found the girl hiding in a closet, scared, but “doing fine,” Monroe County Sheriff Tommy Jones said.
An agent asked Rogers why he did not send the video to police, with the suspect responding that he didn’t think the video would “stand up in court.”
Jones said the girl, who was discovered hiding in a closet in Rogers’ home on Thursday, has been returned to Tennessee but is not yet back with her family, as the investigation continues.
(Photo: Bryan Rogers (l), Randall Pruitt (r))
By Ken Howlett, News Director
Contact Ken at ken@k105.com or 270-259-6000
