Miami Mayor Suarez, explain how ex-aide, arrested on child-porn charges, got hired | Editorial

The shocking arrest Friday of Miami Mayor Francis Suarez’s former top aide on child pornography charges demands an explanation from the mayor.

Certainly, the mayor is not responsible for the personal actions of his staffers. But he is responsible for getting to the bottom of why Rene Pedrosa, once a long-time local TV reporter, was hired into such an influential city position despite the red flags flying about him.

Pedrosa, 48, the mayor’s communications director and trusted advisor until last week, was hauled off to jail Friday, days after telling his boss that police were investigating him for personal misconduct. He then resigned.

Pedrosa was hired for the position a year ago — despite submitting an incomplete application, then acknowledging he’d twice been convicted of DUI. Now details are emerging about how Pedrosa allegedly used the influence of his job to lure an underage boy to City Hall and force himself upon the teen.

Pedrosa is accused of sending the 16-year-old sexually suggestive texts and explicit photos of a penis. Miami police say he invited the teen to City Hall on the pretense of giving him a job — then groped and forcibly kissed the boy in a conference room.

The allegation of such an audacious crime puts the focus on how Pedrosa, despite a sketchy criminal background, landed the plum job as a top advisor to the mayor, serving as his public-relations bulldog.

When Pedrosa initially submitted his application in December 2018, he failed to list two convictions for driving under the influence in 2002 and 2009. Records show that in January 2019, the city allowed him to amend his application to include those convictions.

The mayor needs to explain to city residents why safeguards in place in the hiring process were overridden, amended or ignored for Pedrosa.

Are those rules for everyone or was Pedrosa granted special treatment? If so, why?

Asked if he knew of Pedrosa’s DUIs, the mayor told the Editorial Board on Saturday that he “learned about it as part of the hiring process.” Suarez said that Pedrosa “was qualified to be hired by the city based on the policies of the Human Resources department that all city employees are subject to.”

But a background check should have flagged other concerns. Miami-Dade court records show that Pedrosa was arrested in 2011 on charges of misdemeanor loitering or prowling. Prosecutors later dropped the case.

“That should have opened up some eyes,” Miami City Commissioner Joe Carollo said Friday. Indeed, it should have.

To be clear, the Editorial Board believes in second chances. But Pedrosa’s initial failure to disclose the DUI convictions should have raised concerns, especially given the prominence and influence of the position he sought.

The Pedrosa arrest comes at a challenging time for the mayor, who faces constant opposition from the commission dais.

City Manager Emilio González, another close ally of the mayor, recently resigned after Carollo — the mayor’s haranguer and foe — accused him of allegedly using his power at City Hall to bypass permits to make renovations to his home. It’s unfortunate that the accusations are unconfirmed, and González never had the chance to publicly defend himself.

Now, another trusted Suarez staffer has been ensnared in a serious scandal.

Regardless of the outcome of Pedrosa’s case, the mayor must show himself to be accountable for his administration’s troubles.