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 will go to trial. Although the police investigation was closed with another 16 arrested and 14 suspects still pending identification, sources close to the case consulted by ARA explained that only two men were identified during the investigation, and they will be the only ones to be prosecuted. Both remain in pretrial detention, and one of them is TLM. 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. They arrested the main perpetrator in this plot, a man who is now 45 years old and was 40 at the time of the events. They discovered 10,000 photographs and almost 2,000 videos and saw that the network was outnumbering him. 11 victims—9 girls and 2 boys—although at least 14 more appeared in the images. He could recognize them. However, the sources consulted point out, the Mossos d'Esquadra investigation made it possible to tie heads by comparing the dates on which the videos were recorded and the messages the men had exchanged with the electrician, who contacted them through social media and offered to have sex with the minor. could conclude that the video recorded in that time slot corresponded to the person behind that user

However, these conclusions are not strong enough to be used as evidence in court, according to sources close to the case. in a dozen identification parades. They were all done on the same day to avoid putting him through the ordeal more than once.

Three different causes

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.