Child pornography, luring minors on the internet and blackmailing them: arrested 27 years old

The Carabinieri of Catania arrested a 27-year-old young man investigated for crimes of child pornography, child prostitution, extortion and persecutory acts. The investigation originates from the complaint of a 16-year-old girl who, in August 2017, had been contacted by the young man via the social network Messenger by the suspect, then 23, and had been the victim of sexual acts. The immediate seizure of the cell phone carried out against the suspect by the Carabinieri and the subsequent analysis of its contents made it possible to find what was reported by the minor and revealing a disconcerting scenario that also saw other minors victims of serious crime. In particular, the soldiers of the Operational Unit of the Compagnia di Piazza Dante, thanks to the electronic devices seized from the 27-year-old, have identified five other minors (aged between 13 and 16) victims of a consolidated ‘modus operandi’ of the suspect who , after having identified the most fragile minors on the net and therefore easier to lure, he skillfully found personal information about them (age, home, sentimental situation) and ‘worked’, through persevering chats and video calls, to establish a relationship of trust and complicity by flattering and flattering them with compliments, affectionate expressions and promises of love. Having acquired the trust of the minors, convinced that they were relating to an ideal boyfriend, he induced them to discuss topics related to the sexual sphere by asking them in an obsessive and repeated way to send photos, videos in erotic or nude poses, even suggesting the precise methods of making child pornography material and promising illusory amorous encounters or the purchase of expensive clothes or cell phones. In case of refusal of the young victims, the suspect threatened to report sex conversations or to send compromising photos to parents and engaged couples, social services or carabinieri, so as to emotionally control them, terrorize them and extort them from producing other child pornography material. The 27-year-old also threatened her to publish their phone numbers on the internet or on Facebook, to show up at their home, to stalk them or have them attacked, posing as an agent of a telephone company in possession of confidential information. , even asked to entertain sexual relations with third parties, including unknown ones, and to send him the audio of the aforementioned reports to get sexual arousal.