By Brendan Oliver Bergh
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America
SANTIAGO, Chile – Chile made important steps in the fight against moral indecency this week with a series of arrests against child pornographers. The Investigations Police of Chile (PDI) arrested an interim official of the Superintendent of Education in the distract of Los Lagos for the crime of possession and distribution of child pornography. The investigation began last July after an anonymous tip on a YouTube video brought it to investigators attention.
Using a pseudonym, the official used websites to contact children between the ages of 6 and 14 in order to participate in sexual services for monetary compensation. The investigation led the commissioner of the Computer Crimes Squad of the PDI to vimeo.com which the accused maintained under the same pseudonym. Investigators searched through the sites history and identified at least 27 instances of explicit child pornography.
While the now former Superintendent has been arrested, and indicated that he would like to remain in custody – fearing community retribution – there is indication that he has been released on bail, subject to nightly check ins. Records indicate that when he was arrested at his home, police took from his hard-drives, CDs and DVDs more than 470 saved videos and about 160,000 images of child pornography. These materials will be used as evidence at his upcoming hearing where his charges will be formalized as distribution of child pornography in which he is expected to receive a 38 year sentence. Some of the photographs were of subjects under nine years old.
Along with the Superintendents arrest, the Cybercrime Brigade of the PDI arrested another man in Puente Alto for the storage and distribution of child pornography. Records indicate that that he lured two fifteen year old neighbors into his home under the guise of the use of his pool and gifts. He then forced them into a state of undress using death threats against them and their families. He was on parole for a 2010 charge of sexual abuse of a 14 year old. This event took place during a church retreat where the individual was serving as a catechist.
This is just the latest in Chile’s crackdown on predatory abuse of child exploitation rings. After President Sebasitan Pinera promised the creation of database and registry for child pornographers the PDI busted a large child prostitution ring in Santiago which lead to the arrest of numerous high-profile clients. Pinera has indicated that reports of child sex abuse increased 20 percent last year to 21,176.
For more information, please see:
Terra – Cybercrime Brigade Of PDI Subject Arrested Accused Of Producing Child Pornography – 21 February 2013
La Nacion – He Threatened Two Neighbors Of 15 Years And Forced Them To Produce Child Pornography – 21 February 2013
Terra – PDI Arrested Charged With Producing Child Pornography – 21 February 2013
Cronical Libre – PDI Public Official Arrested By Storing 455 videos And More Than 175,000 Child Pornography Photos – 21 February 2013
The Jakarta Post – Chile Announces Measures To Fight Child Sex Abuse – 19 July 2012
