Homestead church elder accused in second molestation case. Cops say abuse happened in ’90s
A South Miami-Dade church elder is now facing a second allegation that he molested an underage boy.
Ricky Torcise, 68, was charged late Thursday with one count of sexual battery. Miami-Dade police say that in the 1990s, he molested a boy for years, starting when the child was 10 and continuing until about the age of 16.
The charge was filed nine months after Miami-Dade police first arrested Torcise on an allegation he repeatedly molested a 17-year-old boy he met through the church’s youth group in the summer and fall of 2021. Torcise has denied the allegation, pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial.
The new criminal case adds to the mounting legal issues for Torcise, a wealthy businessman who hails from a prominent Homestead family and was a trustee with the New Beginnings Christian Fellowship of Homestead.
His defense attorney, Ben Kuehne, on Thursday night questioned the motives of the latest accuser, suggesting the man may be looking for money through a lawsuit.
“This is an insult, an outrage, and the evidence is going to show it’s a shakedown,” Kuehne said. “It’s preposterous that allegations from 1995 and 1996 are being used against Rick Torcise. The allegations involve a man who has a record for fraud and theft and has a background of dishonesty.”
Investigators had launched a wider probe into Torcise’s conduct over years leading Bible studies and church retreats. In a court hearing last November, a Miami-Dade detective testified that “more victims” had come forward.
And it emerged that the parent of another boy had written a letter to the church’s senior pastor, accusing Torcise of “homosexual grooming” and behaving ““inappropriately with him sexually in many ways.” The police detectives testified that the pastor, Jordan Caldwell, didn’t remove Torcise from his position with boys because the letter didn’t name the victim and Torcise denied the allegations.
It was unclear if the supposed victim from the letter was ever identified.
The victim in the latest charged case did not come forward to police until January, a few months after Torcise was first arrested.
According to an arrest warrant, the molestation started in 1995, when the victim was 10 years old. At the time, the boy’s father had just died, and the mother was struggling to raise the family — which included several foster children.
Torcise, according to the victim, offered to have those foster children live with him for stretches, the warrant said. The victim would sometimes sleep over at Torcise’s house to visit them. During those visits, the victim said, he would would wake up to Torcise molesting him on “several occasions.”
“The victim states that he felt embarrassed by these acts and did not tell anyone what had occurred,” the warrant said. “He was also hesitant to tell anyone about what happened because, after his father passed away, he saw the defendant as a father figure and he [Torcise] helped his family.”
The abuse continued — sometimes at Torcise’s plant nursery, or inside his car — for years afterwards, until the boy was about 16 years old, according to the warrant by Miami-Dade Detective David Suarez. The acts that happened when the boy was between the ages of 12 and 16, however, are barred by the statute of limitations in effect in the 1990s.
