Argentine arrested in Paraguay: drugs, cameras and blood-stained clothing found
Ariel Fernando Morán, 55, was arrested in San Bernardino with a missing adolescent. The prosecution is investigating possible human trafficking and child pornography.
Search in San Bernardino reveals signs of trafficking and child pornography
A search of the home of Ariel Fernando Morán, a 55-year-old Argentine citizen arrested in Paraguay, uncovered a series of items that led to an investigation into alleged human trafficking, child pornography and drug possession, according to lmneuquen.com.
The operation was carried out at a house located in San Bernardino, a locality about 50 kilometres from Asunción, after police rescued a 17-year-old girl who had been missing for 48 hours. The young woman had been found inside a Toyota Hilux pickup truck with an Argentine licence plate driven by Morán, parked in an amusement park on the Costanera Norte in the Paraguayan capital.
Seized items
During the search of the residence, officers seized six notebooks, five mobile phones, two iPads, a digital recorder (DVR), two USB devices, a video camera, syringes, medicines, sex toys, a digital scale and 436 grammes of marijuana. They also found several items of clothing in small sizes, two of which bore stains that appeared to be blood and which will be examined further.
In the detainee's pickup truck, they also found 20 grammes of cocaine distributed in four packets, alcoholic beverages and women's clothing. Police commissioner Juan Pereira stated that the residence contained a room equipped with a large bed and various items set up for filming.
How he met the victim
According to the prosecution's reconstruction, the adolescent—from Santaní—travelled to Asunción with two friends to visit a rural exhibition. There she met Morán, who invited the group to go out and managed to persuade the minor to have dinner with him. The accused later declared that the young woman had told him she was 19 years old and was studying Commercial Engineering.
Investigators argue, however, that Morán took the adolescent's mobile phone away from her to prevent her from contacting her family. He even responded to messages by impersonating her, until the parents became suspicious because of the way she was writing and filed a missing person report. Tracking of the device allowed police to locate the young woman two days after the incident.
At the time of his arrest, Morán attempted to minimise the situation: "They took me for a fool," he declared, although the findings at his residence altered the course of the investigation.
Charges and preventive detention
Morán was formally charged with serious coercion, violation of parental authority and drug possession. The prosecution requested his preventive detention, arguing there was a flight risk, given that the accused has no ties to Paraguay.
Prosecutor María Isabel Arnold confirmed that the hypothesis of human trafficking and child pornography forms part of the investigation, though she clarified that charges have not yet been filed for those crimes. "We have suspicions that he is involved in trafficking and child pornography, but we need to investigate to support that charge," Arnold stated.
Allegations from other women
Following the emergence of the case, two women contacted Paraguayan media outlets to recount similar experiences with the detainee.
The first complainant claimed that Morán isolated her from her family environment, took her phone away, beat her and threatened to kill her. She stated that she was taken under threat to Argentina, where she managed to escape from a hotel in Mar del Plata thanks to the intervention of the establishment's staff. Prosecutor Arnold confirmed that for that incident Morán was prosecuted and was deprived of liberty on a previous occasion.
The second complainant stated that she lived with the accused for almost a year and that he used the same method to approach women. She also declared that the detainee's computers contained photographs and videos of adolescents.
Analysis of devices key to the investigation
Examination of the electronic equipment seized will be crucial to establishing whether there are other victims and whether Morán was acting as part of a network engaged in the recruitment and exploitation of minors. The case remains open as the prosecution continues gathering evidence.
Source: Google News AR — Crime