They had met through the Internet and had had a brief relationship during which they sent each other videos of a sexual nature. When she, a 13-year-old girl, refused to provide him with more material, he, a 16-year-old boy, threatened to spread the images of her through social networks. Finally, he carried out her threat, forwarding the material through the WhatsApp application until the victim’s relatives filed a complaint about the events.
Now, the individual has been arrested in Granada by the National Police attached to the Autonomous Community of Andalusia and is accused of the possible commission of a crime against sexual freedom, another against privacy and a third another of coercion in the form of ‘ sexting’ and ‘sextortion’.
The events occurred when the minor met the now detained man through the Internet and they had a brief romantic relationship, during which time both exchanged intimate photographs and videos. The investigators found out that, shortly after beginning this type of exchange of material of an explicit sexual nature, the minor decided not to send him any more images, a circumstance that the detainee did not accept.
She then demanded that he continue sending sexual photos or videos of her under threat of disseminating the images he already had through social networks. In view of the threat and the real fear that the material could circulate online and be recognized by family or friends, the minor felt coerced and agreed to send new videos of a sexual nature.
To put an end to this practice, the young woman decided to interrupt all forms of communication with the perpetrator, about whom she did not know any further information, deciding to block him from her contact list. The response of the now detained person was none other than the dissemination of the aforementioned material through Whatsapp.
Relatives of the minor, given the evidence that images of sexual content were circulating on social networks, reported these events to the Minor Protection Area (APROME) of the National Police Unit attached to the Autonomous Community of Andalusia.
Immediately, the agents began an investigation of the minor’s environment and social networks that resulted in the identification of the author and his subsequent arrest, facts that were also reported to the judicial authority.
This type of criminal modality is known as sextortion and is closely related to a common practice among adolescents between 12 and 16 years old, and to a lesser extent also in adults, called sexting. It consists of sending intimate images or videos for dissemination through social networks, mainly through instant messaging applications.