Only two of the 30 pedophiles in the Barcelona mega-network will go to trial: the images do not allow the attackers to be identified.

BarcelonaOnly two of the thirty men involved in The massive child pornography and prostitution ring uncovered almost a year ago They will go on trial for sexually assaulting minors. Although the police investigation was closed with 16 arrests and another 14 suspects pending identification, sources close to the case consulted by ARA have explained that during the investigation only the identity of two men has been established, who will be the only ones to be The electrician for whom the Prosecutor's Office has requested a sentence of 107 years in prison to rape a 12-year-old girl in care, film her to offer her to other pedophiles, and arrange with them where and when the sexual assaults would take place. The second defendant is a resident of Madrid.

This case dates back to 2020 and, due to its complexity, has up to three open cases in the courts. Two years later, the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police) managed to arrest the main aggressor in this plot, a man who is now 45 years old and who was 40 at the time of the events. The police accused him of raping and recording the sexual abuse "as if it were a pornographic film" - according to the investigators themselves.

But the story went much further: when they arrested him, in 2022, the officers found more than 10,000 photographs and almost 2,000 videos and saw that the network was exceeding his figure. Thus, in 2024, this plot was uncovered, which the police consider the second largest case of pedophilia in Catalonia to date. Officers arrested 15 other men accused of participating in the rapes, which could have been carried out alone or in groups. At that time, they identified 11 victims (9 girls and 2 boys), but at least 14 more appeared in the images.

However, a key factor in the lack of the scope of the judicial case that the police investigation indicated (only two of those arrested will be prosecuted) has been the difficulty of identification. Their faces are almost never seen in the recordings, so they cannot be recognized. However, the sources consulted point out that the Mossos d'Esquadra investigation made it possible to link heads by comparing the dates on which the videos were recorded and the messages the men had exchanged with the electrician, who contacted them on social media and offered to have sex with the minor. With a message arranging a meeting the next day or later that same day, agents could conclude that the video recorded in that time slot belonged to the person behind that user.

However, these conclusions are not sufficiently strong to be used as evidence in court, according to sources close to the case. Therefore, the judicial investigation has attempted to corroborate these conjectures with other elements that could serve as evidence. The girl, now an adult, has participated in a dozen identification parades. They were all conducted on the same day to avoid putting her through the ordeal more than once. However, she did not recognize any of the suspects other than the main accused. Although there is not enough evidence to ultimately prosecute them for sexual assault, there is enough evidence for the judge to charge them with possession of child pornography.

Three different cases

Many of the images this man had collected were taken at the expense of sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl, under the guardianship of the General Directorate for the Care of Children and Adolescents (DGAIA), who was his guardian. The accused recorded his own assaults and also contacted other pedophiles to rape the girl while he filmed them. Although most of the men could not be identified with sufficient certainty to charge them, their cell phones were accessed during the investigation, which provided new evidence.

Given the magnitude of the images and the large number of people involved, the investigating judge has opted to divide the matter into three separate cases. The first is the only one in which the investigation has already been completed, and the Prosecutor's Office has requested a sentence of 107 years in prison. The Generalitat (Catalan government), which was responsible for the minor under guardianship, has also entered the case as a private prosecutor. Publicly, the government has said it is "dismayed" by the case, but has called for "maximum caution" because it involves a minor and is yet to be tried. The other two cases are pending final telephone calls before the judge sends them to trial, and therefore, there is no request for a conviction yet from the prosecution.

The second case opened as a result of this plot investigates the sexual assaults committed by other men against the same girl in care. In this case, the investigation began with 14 suspects, but difficulties in identifying them have led to only two being prosecuted, including the electrician who faces 107 years in prison in the first case.

The third case opened by the investigator investigates sexual assaults committed by other men against other victims, who in this case were children. The electrician was also involved and, in fact, is the only suspect who has been prosecuted because the others have not been identified. There are eight victims in total, all children, and in this case the man is also accused of child prostitution.

The origin of the investigation

The attacks against this minor began in 2020. At the time, she was living in a juvenile center due to bullying at school and her mother's illness. These circumstances "caused her to have low self-esteem," according to the Prosecutor's Office's indictment, which SER Catalunya reported and was available to ARA. The man contacted her through the dating website Badoo and immediately asked her for "photos and videos in her underwear, naked, and masturbating." Between May 2020 and October 2021, the man collected at least 44 nude images of the girl.

Aware of the girl's age and personal circumstances, the man proposed meeting her in person for sexual relations. The encounters continued for almost a year and a half, always at the man's home, taking advantage of the moments when the girl escaped from the juvenile center. During these encounters, he also convinced her to allow himself to photograph and record her in her underwear, naked, or submitting to the sexual practices he imposed on her, in order to obtain photos and videos that could be displayed or sent on social media to other pedophiles.

The case began to be investigated after a man warned her that he had declined the main defendant's offer to assault the girl, according to sources close to the case. In fact, the Prosecutor's Office's own indictment describes a case in which, despite the interlocutor declining a meeting because he knew she was a minor, the accused insisted.

A "claim" for other pedophiles

The 15 men arrested in this case range in age from 19 to 50, are "of all social statuses," and were aware of the victims' ages, who also did not fit any "specific profile," explained Josep Antoni López Garzón, head of the Mossos d'Esquadra's Central Cybercrime Area, and Corporal David. The ringleader had an apartment in Barcelona's Ciutat Vella that he rented out by room as an unlicensed tourist accommodation. The regular turnover of people and the fact that the apartment was equipped for entry with codes made it easy for him to bring in minors without raising suspicion. He had also previously rented these rooms to prostitute minors.

The man also used the girl "as a sexual attraction on social media" through the dating platform Lovoo and Instagram. He created a profile impersonating the minor and posted photos of her in her underwear. The goal was to be able to see other men sexually assault him. "He indiscriminately offered group sex to online users," the prosecutor said. If they agreed, the defendant referred them to his profile, where he arranged the meeting in his own name.