Man arrested for requesting sexual material from minors through PlayStation in the Canary Islands

The investigation began after a complaint was filed by the mother of an 11-year-old minor, who stated that she had detected that her son was in contact, through his mobile phone, with an adult who was requesting photographs and videos of a sexual nature.

July 4 2025 (11:18 WEST)
Updated in July 4 2025 (12:39 WEST)
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Agents of the National Police, assigned to the Superior Headquarters of Police of the Canary Islands, traveled on June 26 to the island of La Palma, in collaboration with agents of the Local Police Station of Santa Cruz de La Palma, to carry out an entry and search of the home of an adult male. During the operation, he was arrested as the alleged perpetrator of a crime of childgrooming or sexual cybercrime against minors.

The investigation began after a complaint was filed by the mother of an 11-year-old minor at police headquarters, who stated that she had detected that her son was in contact, through his mobile phone, with an adult who was requesting photographs and videos of a sexual nature, having previously gained his trust.

During the proceedings, a second victim was identified, a friend of the initial minor, from whom the detainee had also requested images of sexual content with similar characteristics.

The crime of childgrooming consists of adults approaching minors through technological devices, starting on social networks or video games and progressing to more intimate environments such as WhatsApp. Once the trust of the minors is gained through jokes, virtual gifts or games, the adult requests explicit sexual content.

After multiple efforts by the UFAM Investigation Group of Las Palmas, the suspect, a resident of the island of La Palma, was fully identified. It was found that this person had been contacting minors for sexual purposes since at least 2017, and also had a history of similar events.

The evidence gathered points to a possible national scope of his activities, as he used online platforms to contact minors from different parts of the Spanish territory.

Finally, with judicial authorization, the search of the home in La Palma was carried out, seizing various technological devices, including a PlayStation video game console, which, according to the minors themselves, would have been used to establish the first contact.

Once the police proceedings were completed, the detainee was placed at the disposal of the competent judicial authority, and the seized devices will be analyzed by the Investigation Group in order to detect possible new victims.

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