Offender used Facebook to abuse women

Man tricked young job seekers into appearing naked

A MAN from Alicante who set up a Facebook account in the name of a woman in order to con youngsters into appearing naked via webcam or Skype has been sentenced to four-and-ahalf years’ jail after an appeal to the provincial court was turned down.

According to a press release from the Regional Supreme Court (TSJ), the defendant – named only as Tomás – contacted women aged 15 to 23 with false offers of employment as waitresses, hostesses or dancers in clubs.

The offences took place between August and November in 2014, although the court did not name the town where the offender was based.

According to a court judgment, Tomás had acted to ‘satisfy his sexual desires’.

He would win the women’s confidence via Facebook before asking them to carry out an interview via webcam or Skype for the fictitious job.

According to the court, he told the girls that the camera and microphone on his laptop were not working so they would not find out his true identity.

As the questions progressed he would ask them to take off their clothes and tell them it was necessary for them to make ‘sexual movements’ in order to pass the interview.

He also instructed them to dance and touch themselves, according to the court judgment.

If they refused then he would threaten to ‘show the whole town’ the images that he had already recorded.

A 15-year-old girl who the man tried to con told her mother about what had happened and she reported the incident to the Guardia Civil – as did a 22-yearold woman who was also approached in the same way.

When the offender was tracked down and arrested his lawyer told officers that he was suffering from mental health problems.

However, the court found that there was no evidence to substantiate the claim that he was mentally impaired when the incidents took place.

A judge ruled that the grooming sessions had taken place over several months and the defendant had showed ‘mental alertness’ in the way that he conned the young women.

The provincial court ratified the original jail sentence handed to the offender.

He was found guilty of making threats and corrupting a minor.