Va. Beach man arrested on child porn charges
Apprehended in NYC, had gone missing since deaths of brother and sister-in-law
A man reported missing last month after his brother and sister-in-law were found dead in their Virginia Beach apartment was arraigned Wednesday on unrelated child pornography charges.
Collin Rodgers, 20, was arrested April 15 in The Bronx borough of New York City and charged with possessing child pornography, according to Macie
Allen, a spokesperson for the Virginia Beach Commonwealth’s Attorney’s
Office. The crime is a felony punishable by up to a year in jail and a $2,500 fine.
The charges and warrant for Rodgers’ arrest were filed by Virginia Beach police, Allen said, and he was held in New York until he could be extradited to Virginia Beach.
Rodgers faces two counts of child pornography possession. One incident is alleged to have occurred between July 2021 and April 2022, and the other on April 4, 2022 — the same day Rodgers’ older brother and sister-in-law were found
dead in their Virginia Beach apartment. Talon Rodgers and Alisa Wash, both 23, had been shot to death, police said. They were married a few weeks before they died.
Rodgers appeared Wednesday at the arraignment via video from the jail, wearing an orange jail jumpsuit and his hair in a ponytail.
He told General District Judge Daniel Lahne that his mother had hired attorney Chris Reagan to represent him. He also said he hadn’t asked her to hire a lawyer.
The address listed for Rodgers in court records is the same one where his brother and sister-in-law lived and where their bodies were found: an apartment at 131 South Boggs Ave.
A bail checklist in Rodgers’ file says he’s unemployed and has no prior convictions or pending charges. The document also
said he refused to cooperate when asked about his family ties, education and financial resources.
Lahne ordered Rodgers remain jailed without bond. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Aug. 11.
While investigating the case, Virginia Beach police learned Collin Rodgers hadn’t been seen by his family since March 27, about a week before the bodies were found. The department issued an alert on April 6 that described him as an “endangered adult,” and asked for help locating him.
Virginia Beach police announced in a tweet on April 27 that Collin Rodgers had been found safe but made no mention of the fact that he’d been arrested 12 days before in New York on charges issued by them.
Melissa Johnston, a spokeswoman for the Virginia Beach Police Department, declined to answer a series of questions from The Virginian-Pilot about the arrest, including whether Collin Rodgers is considered a suspect in the deaths of his brother and sister-in-law.
Johnston issued a written statement instead. “During the course of the missing persons investigation for Collin Rodgers images of child pornography were located and connected to him,” Johnston wrote. “A warrant was obtained for the Possession of Child Pornography and he was subsequently arrested in New York City.”