🚩Detenido en #Madrid un fugitivo neozelandés, incluido en la lista de los 10 más buscados del #FBI
Fue condenado a cadena perpetua en #EEUU por delitos de pornografía infantil, explotación sexual, agresión sexual y ganancias ilícitas, llegando a ganar +17 millones de dólares pic.twitter.com/E9uLKMaGw9
— Policía Nacional (@policia) December 23, 2022
MADRID – For the first time the national police have arrested one of the US FBI’s “10 most wanted fugitives” in Spain. Furthermore, the fugitive has been sentenced to life imprisonment for various crimes.
The 40-year-old man of New Zealand nationality has been arrested for crimes of child pornography, sexual exploitation, assault and illicit profits of more than 17 million dollars (around €16 million). He was arrested on Wednesday at a hotel in central Madrid. There he stayed under one of several fake identities he used, as reported by the police.
From modeling jobs to pornography
The fugitive engaged in the audiovisual production of pornography. Furthermore, he also recruited minors and young women from various parts of the United States and Canada through deceit. Moreover, he did this by placing advertisements on the Internet offering supposed modeling jobs.
Sexual practices
According to what has been proven against him in the legal proceedings, he detained said women and forced them to perform sexual practices against their will. He also paid others to convince victims that sexually explicit material would never be published.
Related: Most wanted still on the run
Much of the pornography he produced between 2012 and 2019 ended up on open web pages. Through this he generated a profit of more than $17 million.
A $100,000 reward for FBI most wanted
However, after being sentenced to life imprisonment, he escaped. The US authorities then issued the international arrest warrant. Furthermore, a $100,000 reward was offered in exchange for information on his whereabouts.
After agents received information from Washington, they began an investigation that located the fugitive in Barcelona, but the search turned up nothing. After a year of exhaustive searches in various parts of Spain, they were able to arrest the fugitive on December 21. To date, only 57 of those fugitives had been captured outside the borders of the United States.
