Edward Mina,
Investigators say that molestation went on for 3 years
the brother of Orlando Police Chief John Mina, faces charges of sexual battery and molestation of a child under 12.
Orlando police Chief John Mina’s brother was arrested Tuesday, after a girl told investigators 51-year-old Edward Michael Mina had molested her repeatedly for three years, court records show.
In a statement, John Mina, 49, called the charges against his older brother “extremely serious and disturbing.”
“At this time, I am most concerned with the welfare and privacy of the child involved, and won’t be making any further comment,” he added.
According to an arrest affidavit, the teenage girl told Orange County sheriff ’s investigators Edward Mina’s abuse started when she was 10 and continued until she was 13.
She said it began with kissing — Edward Mina said he was “teaching me how to kiss,” the teenager told authorities — and progressed to molestation, according to the affidavit.
“Never tell anyone what I do to you, it’s our little secret,” he told the girl, according to the description of her account in the affidavit.
The teen said that Edward Mina also would ask her to watch pornography with him, the affidavit shows. She said the abuse stopped after she stopped talking to him when she was about 13.
On Tuesday, the Sheriff’s Office monitored a phone call between the girl and Edward Mina, in which the girl told him that she had talked to a friend about the abuse, who told a counselor, the affidavit said.
“If you tell them the truth, I am going to go to jail for a long time,” Edward Mina said, according to the affidavit. “If you don’t tell them the truth I will do anything.” The girl identified the voice on the call as his.
Edward Mina declined to be interviewed by investigators without a lawyer, records show.
He was booked into the Orange County Jail on charges of sexual battery and molestation of a child under 12.
He remained in the jail without bail Wednesday.