FAIRFIELD, Ohio — Police continue to investigate the 33-year-old Deerfield Twp. man charged with soliciting sexually explicit videos and photos from co-workers, and additional charges could be filed with the Butler County Prosecutor’s Office.
Currently, Armando Rivera is facing just one count of compelling prostitution, a third-degree felony, in Fairfield Municipal Court. His preliminary hearing Tuesday was continued until Feb. 14 after he retained Cincinnati attorney Blake Somers.
Any additional charges would not likely be added until the case is bound over to the grand jury, said Fairfield police spokesman Lt. Ken Colburn. He said police have interviewed people since Rivera’s arrest Jan. 28.
On Tuesday, Judge Joyce Campbell set Rivera’s bond at $3,020 and ordered, if the bond was posted, that he stay away from the victim and the victim’s family members.
According to police, Rivera, a shift supervisor for a kids’ indoor entertainment park at Cincinnati Mills, allegedly paid employees — mostly juveniles — and “other associates” for videos and photos of them in sexual situations. Rivera also allegedly paid the subjects to engage in sexual acts with him.
Investigators said Rivera told them he was planning to start a porn Web site, but “it just began spinning out of control.”
Somers had requested his client’s family be able to pay 10 percent with the caveat he wear an electric monitoring device.
Fairfield Prosecutor Pete Froelke promptly objected, saying Rivera is a flight risk.
Campbell did not grant Somers’ request, but did not order Rivera to wear the ankle monitor. Somers declined to comment on the case after the hearing.
Rivera was released Tuesday from the Butler County Jail after being there since his arrest.