Cops: Church Elder Rosemberg Berrios Offered Boy, 13, Money For Sex

Newsday wrote:

Cops: Church Elder Offered Boy, 13, Money For Sex

By ANDREW RAMOS | wpix.com
12:53 PM EDT, June 22, 2009

CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y.(WPIX)- A man who police say identified himself as a church elder from a Patchogue church was arrested and charged Sunday after he attempted to pay a 13-year-old boy for sex.

Police say Rosemberg Berrios, 42, of Central Islip was sitting in his white Kia parked in a lot outside a 7-11 convenience store on Suffolk Avenue at around 7:45 p.m. Berrios called the teenager over to his car and engaged him in a conversation. At some point, while the two were talking, the suspect offered the boy money in exchange to have sex with him.

The 13-year-old declined and rode off on his bicycle. Authorities say the boy called police after he took down the description of the suspect's car and the license plate number.

Police were able to track Berrios down, and arrested him a few hours later.

Berrios told police he was a church elder at the Seventh Day Adventist Church in Patchogue.

He was charged with endangering the welfare of a child and patronizing a prostitute. He is expected to be arraigned in First District Court in Central Islip Monday.