FROM: Jody Pickens, District Attorney General, 26th Judicial District
On October 28, 2021, investigators with the Jackson Police Department received a call regarding suspicion of child abuse in relation to a three-year-old child who was being treated at the Milan General Hospital emergency room. The child resided with her father in Trenton, Tennessee, but had been visiting a relative in Jackson in the days preceding the injuries.
The child was transported to LeBonheur Children’s Hospital, where she was admitted for the treatment of a broken arm, a broken leg, numerous burn marks, multiple bruises, and a lacerated pancreas. She was readmitted to LeBonheur a week after her discharge for complications arising from the lacerated pancreas. She was treated in the Intensive Care Unit for a week before being discharged again. The child abuse pediatrician treating the child characterized the lacerated pancreas as a “life threatening injury.”
As the case progressed, Jackson Police Department investigators learned that during the child’s extended visit with the relative, the child was left in the sole care of Rodrigus Long at the Traveler’s Inn in Jackson over two separate nights. Long, who was twenty-eight (28) at the time, is a convicted Sex Offender who had two Chester County convictions for Sexual Battery involving two different victims from 2013. He was subject to the rules of the Tennessee Sex Offender Registry.
Sergeant Isaiah Thompson and Major Danielle Jones, both of the Jackson Police Department, gathered the evidence necessary to prosecute Rodrigus Long for Aggravated Child Abuse. The evidence included a forensic interview of the child victim conducted at the Carl Perkins Center for the Prevention of Child Abuse, incriminating text messages that implicated Long, and various calls made by Long while he was in jail, in which he made incriminating statements.
A Madison County Grand Jury returned an indictment in October, 2022, charging Long with Aggravated Child Abuse. At the September 24, 2026 trial, Assistant District Attorneys General Michelle Pugh and Scott Kirk represented the State. The jury returned a verdict of guilty as charged against Long. At his November sentencing hearing, Judge Joseph Howell will sentence Long to serve fifteen (15) to twenty-five (25) years in the Tennessee Department of Correction. He will serve 100% of any sentence he receives.
“Violent crimes against children are among the most reprehensible criminal offenses that we prosecute and because of that they are tough not only for the victim but also for those who are called upon to handle these matters,” said District Attorney General Jody Pickens. “Those who prey on innocent children deserve the greatest punishment allowed by the law. Rodrigus Long not only inflicted serious physical pain and left visible scars on the three-year-old child; he also stole the innocence of her childhood. I am grateful for the hard work and dedication of the Jackson Police Department, the Carl Perkins Center, the LeBonheur medical team, and Assistant District Attorneys General Michelle Pugh and Scott Kirk who, working together, allowed a jury comprised of Madison County citizens to return a guilty verdict and achieve a measure of justice for this sweet little girl. This conviction can’t change what the little girl had to endure, but hopefully it can give her some semblance of justice and peace. Moreover, by this conviction my office has guaranteed that Long won’t be able to victimize another child for a long time.”
