INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — A 27-year-old Homestead man is accused of driving roughly two hours to meet a 13-year-old girl in Indian River County for a sexual encounter, according to the Indian River County Sheriff’s Office.
Edgar Esteban Camargo Pedraza was arrested July 20 and booked into the Indian River County Jail on charges of lewd or lascivious battery and traveling to meet and lure a child. He was being held Friday on $200,000 bond.
The girl reported the incident to deputies June 12 while at Cleveland Clinic Indian River Hospital, an arrest affidavit states. She told investigators she and Pedraza had been communicating through text messages and social media since October 2025. At his request, they exchanged inappropriate photos, the affidavit says.
According to the girl, Pedraza picked her up, and the encounter took place at a cul-de-sac in a local park.
Detectives used phone records to identify Pedraza and interviewed him July 16 at his home in Homestead. He initially said he believed the girl was 18 or 19, that she had started the contact, and that the two only smoked marijuana together.
When pressed with follow-up questions, he acknowledged having sexual intercourse with her, the affidavit states.
