The National Police have dismantled a child prostitution network operating in Tenerife, as the result of an investigation that began in July 2022, divided into three phases, arresting 14 people in the process.
In the first phase, five raids and searches at various properties on the island were carried out, resulting in the arrest of six men and the identification of five of the minors who were victims of the alleged crimes.
Following this, specialist teams analysed computers and other devices that had been seized in the operation, identifying more than 200 buyers of child pornography across Spain.
With the identification of new suspects, the investigation continued on to the second phase, which concluded with the arrest of six more men with varying degrees of involvement in the crimes of prostitution of minors, child pornography and sexual assault of a minor under 16 years of age.
Following this, the third phase began, in which two men were identified who had allegedly contracted the prostitution services of several of the identified minors. After entering and searching the home of one of these, he was arrested and subsequently placed in provisional prison.
One of those arrested for his alleged involvement in a crime of prostitution of minors turned out to be a psychologist who founded two clinics in Tenerife, where he also carried out his professional work.
The suspect allegedly contracted the sexual services of at least two of the underage victims on several occasions and took them to one of the aforementioned psychological clinics, where he recorded many of these sexual encounters.
Furthermore, as a result of the investigation, it was found that this person had made several payments to two of the men investigated in the operation who were engaged in the sale of child pornography of one of the minors.
Following these findings and given the possibility that the suspect, taking advantage of his status as a mental health professional and everything that entails, could receive these sexual favours from the minors who came to his clinic to receive the appropriate psychological therapy, a search of his offices and his home address was requested, in order, among other things, to find other possible victims among the list of his patients.
As a result of these searches, three hard drives, two laptops, a tablet, two mobile phones, three firearms, eleven thousand four hundred euros in cash, and a box of DVDs were seized.
Once the raids and searches were completed, statements were taken from several of the centre's employees and one of the detainee's victims, which proved that he had recorded the sexual encounters without the victim's knowledge and therefore without her consent.
When the detainee was brought before the competent judicial authority, the judge ordered his remand in custody. To this day, investigators continue to analyse all the information contained in the seized devices in the hope of finding more victims of the detainee, as well as more paedophile material.
The National Police reminds the public that they can contribute to the prosecution of this type of crime by providing information, which will be treated confidentially by investigators, to the email address: denuncias.pornografí[email protected]
