Agents of the National Police have arrested five people in Puerto del Rosario for their alleged involvement in a continued scam to the detriment of a person with severe intellectual disability. Among those arrested are the owner of an establishment where sexual services were offered, three of her employees, and the holder of a bank account who acted as the recipient of part of the funds stolen from the victim.
The investigation began following the complaint filed by a relative of the victim and the subsequent statement of the affected person, in which they stated they were being subjected to alleged economic exploitation by workers from an establishment in Puerto del Rosario.
According to the investigation, the victim allegedly suffered economic damage of 34,510 euros as a result of various operations carried out through bank transfers, card payments, cash withdrawals, and operations via Bizum.
The victim told the agents that the establishment's workers would have forced her to consume alcohol and narcotic substances, a circumstance that, combined with her intellectual disability, would have placed her in a situation of special vulnerability, making it easier for the alleged perpetrators to direct her economic decisions and obtain amounts of money for their own benefit.
During the investigation, agents carried out an exhaustive analysis of banking documentation and requested information from various financial institutions, which allowed them to identify the holders of the accounts receiving the funds and the telephone terminals linked to the investigated operations.
Likewise, images from video surveillance systems corresponding to various cash withdrawals made at bank branches were analyzed. In them, the presence and accompaniment of different people with the victim during the operations could be verified, with subsequent photographic identifications being carried out, which allowed progress in their identification.
The study of the operations allowed the detection of a high temporal concentration of money movements coinciding with the victim's stay in the establishments investigated. Investigators observed a repeated and defined pattern of action, compatible with a coordinated action presumably aimed at taking advantage of the victim's cognitive limitations to direct their financial decisions and obtain continued economic benefit.
As a result of the investigations, the agents proceeded to the arrest of five people, including the owner of the establishment, three employees, and the holder of one of the bank accounts into which the transferred money was received.
The detainees have been placed at the disposal of the competent judicial authority. Meanwhile, the police investigation remains open and efforts are continuing to locate two other individuals
presumably involved in the events.
Citizen Collaboration
The National Police thanks and reminds citizens that they can collaborate, anonymously if they wish, if they have knowledge, indications, or suspicions of criminal activities, through the website
www.policía.es in the Collaborate section, providing information that will be treated confidentially by National Police specialists.
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