Edgewater Church Volunteer Sentenced For Child Sex Abuse

ANNAPOLIS, MD — An Edgewater man who volunteered as a Bible study leader at an Annapolis church has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for multiple counts of child sex abuse. Erick Ernesto Granados-Zeledon, 39, was a chaperone and bible study instructor at Iglesia Hispanic Emmanuel Church, 913 Cedar Park Road in Annapolis. While investigators said in June when Granados-Zeledon was arrested that the abuse didn't happen at the church, his role there gave him access to children.

On Tuesday, a judge sentenced him to 10 years in prison with five years probation. Granados-Zeledon is required to register as a sex offender for life and is barred from any unsupervised contact with minors.

Anne Arundel County Police detectives filed charges after a 10-year-old boy reported that Granados-Zeledon had sexually abused him after befriending the victim and his family through the church. Police spokesman Lt. Ryan Frashure told Patch that none of the abuse happened at the church, but took place at the suspect's house in Edgewater.

"The suspect volunteered at the church so he had access to children and we want to make sure there are no other victims. We were made aware of the incident when the juvenile and the family contacted police in May," Frashure said previously.

Police initially charged Granados-Zeledon with second-degree sex offense, second-degree child abuse, third-degree sex offense, fourth-degree sex offense, sexual abuse of a minor, sodomy and second-degree assault.
Granados-Zeledon pleaded guilty to sex abuse of a child in October, and prosecutors dropped the other charges, court records show.

Assistant State’s Attorney Reva Chopra said in court that the child's family believed Granados-Zeledon wanted to be a mentor for the youth. A victim impact statement from the boy’s mother that Chopra read at the sentencing hearing said in the aftermath of the abuse the boy cut himself, was suicidal, and had outbursts of anger, the Capital-Gazette reports.

“My family life has been disrupted forever,” the mother’s statement said. “This has changed my trust in people forever.”

The Iglesia Hispanic Emmanuel Church cooperated with authorities in the investigation, a police spokesman says. Granados-Zeledon had no affiliation with the church's private school or daycare, authorities say.

Anne Arundel County Police ask any other victims to contact the Anne Arundel County Child Abuse Unit at 410-222-4733.

Photo of Erick Ernesto Granados-Zeledon, courtesy of Anne Arundel County Police