Online paedophiles arrested across Spain 

EIGHT people have been arrested for allegedly sexually harassing a 13-year-old girl over the Internet after a concerned mum contacted a special email address. 

She had been drawn in to the paedophile world by a man who pretended to have a modelling agency and persuaded the youngster to share photos of her wearing lingerie.  

Police found that the child had uploaded various photographs of her face and body to social networks, all in suggestive postures, which led several paedophiles to contact her. 

They wanted her to send them sexual material and several were planning to meet her for sex. 

The police investigation allowed them to examine the different techniques used by cyberbullies to achieve their purposes, such as a man who pretended to be a woman with a terminal illness. 

Another man gained the girl’s friendship and then psychologically manipulated her to arouse in her a feeling of sorrow if they did not have physical encounters. 

Now police are reminding people that they can send anonymous complaints about facts or situations they find worrying to the email denuncias.pornografía.infantil@policía.es. 

The arrested people come from provinces all around Spain. One of those investigated has been arrested twice during the investigation for reoffending. Another managed to sexually abuse the minor, given that he lived just a few kilometres from the victim. 

The investigation began in April 2017 when the agents received an email in which a mother alerted of her daughter’s contact, through social networks, with a person who claimed to have a modelling agency. 

He used a well-known brand of women’s lingerie which he said he needed models for – police noted that he appeared to be targeting underage girls on several social networks. 

Investigators tracked down a suspect in Madrid, who has numerous previous offences. They discovered that he was also allegedly harassing a 12-year-old girls in Alicante province, so arrested him immediately. 

In a search of his home, the agents discovered that he had inserted various advertisements on different social networks posing as a female lingerie commercial and model agent. They were answered by many girls who were attracted by the offer. Finally, they identified a total of eight victims, in different Spanish provinces, between the ages of 12 and 16. 

At the same time, the agents learned that the child at the centre of the original investigation had been harassed through social networks by different individuals.  The researchers identified a total of nine people who had not only requested and obtained sexual material from the minor but were also planning a physical encounter in order to have sexual relations with her. 

One of the detainees, 33–years–old and resident in Tenerife, pretended to be a woman in order to gain the trust of the minor. He then tricked her by saying that ‘she’ was terminally ill and wanted her to meet her best friend. After gaining her trust, he sent her adult pornography with the intention of convincing her that online sexual conduct on the internet is normal and, finally, asked her for images of a sexual nature. He was making plans to meet her when he was arrested. 

In Tarragona they arrested a 26-year-old man who had sent photographs of his own genitals to the girl. In this case, the detainee had taken on the role of a young boy who tried to trivialise sexual relations between people of different ages. In the search of his home, the agents discovered that he had harassed another 14-year-old girl with whom he had initiated conversations aimed at having a physical encounter with her, in addition to having requested sexual material from her. 

Another 29-year-old man was arrested in Ciudad Real for the same acts. In this case, the harasser had managed to establish a strong relationship of friendship with the victim, taking on the role of confidant and advising her regarding her daily problems. Once the relationship of trust had been established, the detainee revealed to her that he was an older man and that he would feel badly hurt if she rejected him. 

In this way, he manipulated her to obtain sexual material and gather additional information aimed at achieving a physical encounter with her. In the search of his home, they also discovered the identity of a second victim who was 16 years old. 

Four more paedophiles were arrested in Valencia and Badajoz . One of them, aged 22, managed to sexually abuse the minor taking advantage of their geographical proximity. She had not reported him as she “thought they were a couple.” 

In the last phase of the investigation, the agents found that the first of those arrested, the 24-year-old male resident in Madrid, had reinserted new advertisements in social networks to attract underage girls with the same modus operandi. 

Despite the fact that, after his first arrest, his parents removed all the computer material available to him, he had used a games console to re-offend. 

 When he was arrested again, he admitted that he could not stop his compulsive behaviour in order to obtain sexual images of minors, although he expressed no interest in meeting them.