Restoration Destination also known as Miracle Village is a small community in Pahokee, Florida which acts as a safe haven for registered child sex offenders. The community is also run by offenders and is operating under Matthew 25: Ministries as most of their funding comes through donations. The small community was founded by evangelical pastor Dick Witherow in 2009. He wanted Miracle Village to act as a safe haven for local sex offenders who struggle to find housing. Witherow was motivated by his own experience of a controversial relationship as a teenager. He saw sex offenders as modern day lepers which led him to create a community for them.
Before the offenders came and took over Miracle Village was just your average neighborhood where migrants who worked in the nearby sugar cane fields lived with their families. Today, 80% of the residents are offenders and predators while the other 20% are family members of offenders or migrants that never relocated in 2009, meaning children also live in this community. The Village is located just six minutes away from the neighboring community of Pahokee. Pahokee is a small town with a population of just over 5,000 people and is best known for its sugar cane farms. The town alone is home to more sex offenders per capita than any other cities in Florida. Florida is known for its script sex offender laws, which requires registered offenders to live at least 1,000 feet away from where children congregate such as parks and schools. Miracle Village was chosen to comply with these restrictions, as the surrounding sugarcane fields ensured no nearby prohibited zones. Yet, how is it children can live in this community full of sexual predators?
The village claims to operate under strict rules including curfews and GPS ankle monitors for some residents as well as random drug tests and internet use restrictions. Matthew 25: Ministries not only provides them with housing but also provides them with minimum wage employment, counseling and therapy sessions which are held at the village church. It is important to note that these sessions are conducted by other sexual offenders. Palm Beach County Sheriff conducts weekly checks to ensure compliance with residency and registration laws.
Miracle Village
Doug sitting near the entrance of Miracle Village.
The small village contains fifty-four duplexes and six family homes which houses sex offenders and regular citizens as well. The total population in 2018 which includes families was 200. YouTuber Tyler Oliveira went to the community in 2023 and interviewed several offenders who resided there. Several of them stated that families with children live in the village. One man told Oliveria that he was a sex offender, he went on to state;
“Anybody can live here. You got kids or anything…” He then proceeded to point out the street where children lived then said, “Yeah, there’s kids on that other street over there. I know some of them but I don’t… I don’t hang around them much.”
Many don’t know that this village exists but it should deeply disturb people that young children live in this village. Not to mention this village of sex offenders is also just minutes away from a community as well as a school.
A photo of children that live in the village.
The last person Oliveria interviewed had been in prison for raping a 13 year old girl. He claimed that she knew what she was doing when she took her clothes off and crawled into bed with him. After watching Oliveria’s video you notice that the one thing all these offenders have in common
is being the victim. Zero of them took any responsibility at all for their crime or behavior. If none of these people have remorse or empathy, who’s to say they won’t act again especially with the young children that live in the community or the neighboring town.
Tyler Oliveria interviewing a resident of Miracle Village who raped a 13 year old girl
For example, in the summer of 2024 the executive director of the community Ted Carl Rodarm Jr was arrested for indecent exposure in a Costco parking lot. Just four years prior to his arrest he was reported to local police for masturbating in a hotel parking lot. Rodarm has been executive director since 2019 and apparently his recent trouble with the law hasn’t caused him to lose his job as his Linkedin page states he is the executive director for Restoration Destination. It stands to reason and it is just common sense that offenders cannot rehabilitate other offenders. Pictured below is Ted Rodarm with his wife Rose Rodarm who is a registered sex offender due to molesting her own children.
A photo of Ted Rodarm with his wife Rose Rodarm who is also a sex offender
The behavior of these offenders most likely continues as a resident of the village who is an offender stated in an interview with Just Life;“There’ve been a couple.”
When asked about residents being arrested. He was then asked if the arrests regarded pedophilia to which he responded; “Yea!”
He went on to say that he believed residents have relapsed. Just Life then asked an employee if there were ever any incidents in the community. To which he responded “No. We don’t have any crime.”
It definitely makes you think otherwise when you have a sex offender ratting on other sex offenders in that community. In Oliveira’s video he also interviewed residents in the nearby town of Pahokee. Several interviewees were parents who expressed concern for their children’s safety. One woman in particular babysitting from her home was horrified at the sex offender notices she would receive in the mail every time Miracle Village would gain a new resident. It is important to note that Pahokee is one of the poorest towns in Florida. Therefore it makes it financially difficult for the residents to leave the town completely in order to keep their children safe.
In 2009 when the village came to be, the residents of Pahokee began to express their concerns. Which then led the Mayor of Pahokee at the time to state to NBC 6 South Florida that he was unaware that offenders were being recruited to live there and that he believed having so many live together would be "very, very risky". Obviously nothing was ever done about this issue because it still exists today.
In 2013 photographer Sofia Valiente visited Miracle Village. Valiente stayed in the community for a total of 90 days getting to know the residents as well as photographing and documenting them for her book Miracle Village. Valiente asked several residents to write their story on a pieceof paper. Some of the responses are disturbingly eerie.
Here is a list of just the few sex offenders that run the community. It should raise concern that previous sex offenders and predators are operating this community and helping other offenders and predators rehabilitate.
Ted Carl Rodarm Jr is the Executive Director of the community. In April of 1997 Rodarm was charged with being lewd/lascivious to a child under 16 for exposing himself at a school. He was then arrested again in early September of 1997 for masturbating in public. He was then arrested for a third time in late September of 1997 for having sex with a minor at a high school. Then once again in the summer of 2024 for indecent exposure.
Patrick Powers is village manager. Powers owned a racquetball club and would volunteer his time to teach children. He was charged with molesting several young boys and girls under the age of 16 from 1986 to 1989. He faced a possible life sentence but Power’s took a plea deal which got him a 35 year sentence and 54 years of probation. Power’s was also ordered to leave Florida after his prison release. This is a man who should not be on the streets but somehow is.
Director of Ministries Brandon Deyo was an Air Force reservist who was charged with 5 counts of child pornography. According to police Deyo had video possession of men committing various sex acts with girls between the ages of 5-7. It was also reported that Deyo was molesting his wife’s six year old sister around that time. He also admitted to police that he had molested his 3 year old nephew at the age of 16. Deyo pleaded guilty in 2012 to child porn charges. Most of his porn possession was of infants as well as young children. Deyo was sentenced to 17 years but somehow managed to get out of prison.
Financial Director Casimir Griglik III was arrested in 2013 for possessing child porn. According to police Griglik had over 200 pornographic videos mostly of children. Griglik was actively downloading child pornography when police raided his house.
Church worship leader Chad Stoffel was a teacher who was arrested for molesting a teenager who was younger than 16 at the time. Stoffel was a former Christian school teacher who used social networking sites to contact minors. It is unknown if Stoffel is still Miracle Village’s worship leader because his LinkedIn states he now works at a different church in Palm Beach which should definitely raise concerns.
Do children live in Miracle Village? SEE, and LISTEN for yourself.
(Click the image to capture clip-full video/source posted below each image)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZ1e17AZv9A
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmJ9gMQrZoE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmJ9gMQrZoE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmJ9gMQrZoE
