Prohibited from the Barcelona metro for repeatedly masturbating and rubbing himself against female passengers

BarcelonaThe Mossos d'Esquadra have arrested a young man they had been looking for for more than three years. He is 24 years old and, as ARA has learned, last Tuesday he was arrested for committing up to eleven acts of exhibitionism and groping women on the Barcelona metro. After appearing in court, he is under a prohibition of approaching the metro that will last until he is tried.

According to police sources, the man had an modus operandi. Generally, he would wait in the metro station lobbies, a few meters from the turnstiles where the ticket must be validated. At this point in the station, he would begin to masturbate discreetly while looking at female passengers approaching with their cards. The moment they were about to enter through the turnstile, the man would latch on behind them as if to sneak into the metro and take the opportunity to rub against the passenger or show them his genitals. In some cases, he ejaculated.

The man acted repeatedly in this manner. The first act of exhibitionism took place in September 2022. Although he stopped his criminal activity for a period, in 2024 he did it again on six occasions. Last year, he also masturbated and rubbed against passengers on two occasions, and this year – before his arrest – he had already done so twice more. The last case occurred two weeks ago, on March 15.

The investigation by the Mossos, which has been taken over by the Regional Urban Transport Area, has been complicated for several reasons. The first is that, although the accused had a clear pattern of behavior, it was not entirely clear when and where he acted. In fact, he chose the Barcelona metro stations completely arbitrarily. There was also no coherence in the times he chose to act: he did it at certain times of the year, on dates that did not coincide and had no logic. Furthermore, he did not prioritize specific lines of public transport in the city.

Face hidden

The second reason that has complicated the police investigation is that the boy always accessed the subway with a hood and his face was not visible from the various security cameras in the facilities. This is one of the main points that had prevented the Mossos from identifying him for more than three years. Finally, however, in one of the last acts he committed, his face was slightly visible, which allowed his identification and, subsequently, his location. Throughout all this time, the police have been tracking him.

The young man had a prior record for a theft offense, and now the Mossos have arrested him for various offenses, one of which for sexual assault, as the touching he committed falls within this criminal typology in some cases.