National Police agents have arrested a couple for sexually exploiting more than 120 women in Elche and Novelda. They had created a business network with modeling agencies or film producers to attract the victims.
In fact, some of them have been sexually assaulted and were forced to wear geolocation devices to be available at all times. Those arrested are charged with the crimes of continued sexual assault, coercive prostitution and documentary falsification, as reported by the National Police in a statement.
The investigation began when one of the victims informed the agents that she had been sexually exploited for more than five years and that she had even been the victim of sexual assaults without having denounced until now “for fear of reprisals.”
The agents activated the mechanisms to provide protection to the victim and the investigations began to verify if there could be more women who had suffered these same events.
During the investigation, the agents have verified that the alleged perpetrators acted within the framework of a business network that included modeling agencies or film producers that they used as a hook to attract the victims.
Thus, those arrested posed as representatives of the sector to promise their victims a successful professional career in the world of fashion or cinema and, to give greater credibility to the hoax, they made a photo book for each woman. Once captured, they were coerced and threatened to engage in prostitution.
The victims were subjected to prostitution during marathon days and were forced to have sexual relations even if they were sick. In addition, they forced them to carry geolocation devices so that they were available “at all times.”
In fact, according to the investigations, if the victims refused or were reluctant to provide sexual services, they were “threatened, punished with fines or directly eliminated any economic income to which they were entitled.”
At the same time, women were forced to have sexual relations with their pimps whenever they requested it, under death threats if they did not agree. These assaults, which included sadomasochistic practices, occurred “on a regular basis” and it was a “test” they had to pass to ensure that they “would leave customers satisfied.”
During the police device, the agents have arrested these people and have carried out several simultaneous searches in the premises and businesses that they ran in the Alicante towns of Elche and Novelda, in which “sufficient evidence” has been gathered for the imputation of those arrested and the identification of more than 120 victims.
Finally, the detainees have been made available to the Elche Investigating Court, which has ordered their entry into prison. The investigation is still open and the National Police does not rule out that new victims may appear.
The investigation has been carried out by agents of the Immigration and Border Brigade of the Elche National Police Station.
