The man arrested this Monday for the alleged fraud in the organization of a trip to a grassroots soccer tournament in San Sebastián had gone to the Arrecife Courts a week earlier to file a complaint against his wife. In that complaint, to which La Voz has had access, Damián Horacio Pueblas claimed that he had just "discovered" that the money he received as organizer of that trip to the Donosti Cup had not reached its destination, to pay for hotels and transportation, and blamed his partner for it.
"He did not deposit any of what the parents have paid for the Donosti tournament, that is, about 20,000 euros," he said in court, claiming that his wife had acted "behind his back." According to his complaint, registered on June 21, he "did not distrust her", but that changed when he "discovered" some Whatsapp messages, which in reality did not refer to economic issues, but personal ones.
In fact, the complaint begins by talking about alleged infidelities of his wife and a "flirting" with several people and in particular with an ex-boyfriend from La Palma, to whom she allegedly sent money. "I have found some evidence that she sent money to that boy from La Palma," he denounced in court, where he provided some "papers" and assured that there was even more that he had not been able to "grab".
However, six days after filing that complaint, Damián Horacio Pueblas was arrested by the National Police, after the parents of the children who were going to participate in that trip discovered that they had been victims of a possible scam. Regarding his wife, for the moment this police force has not wanted to confirm or deny whether she has been arrested, as they claim that "the investigation is still open" and that "the priority" is to try to recover the money.
"She had a card"
Although the detainee acknowledges that he was the organizer of the trip, in his complaint he blamed his wife for the fact that the payments had not been made. "She had a card, which she still has, and she was putting the parents' money in to deposit, which she has not done," he said in court.
According to his own statement, "60 children and about 20 parents" were going to participate in the trip to San Sebastián. "The hotel for the kids is owed about 4,000 euros from parents and about 2,800 euros from the bus. Nothing has been deposited," he warned a week ago in court. However, the parents did not even find out that Tuesday, but two days later. And not by him, but by a call received by one of the coaches from a colleague.
"On Thursday night I received a call from a coach friend from the Basque Country explaining to me that the participation fees had not been paid to the tournament organization, we immediately organized a meeting for Friday with the maximum number of parents of the children and we transferred the problem to them," coach José Reyes explained to La Voz.
In addition, these families from Lanzarote have not been the only victims of this situation. As La Voz had already published, a team from Madrid has also reported similar events, in this case with a trip they were going to make to Lanzarote. The detainee is also the organizer of the Lanzarote Fútbol Cup, which began just the day he went to file this complaint in court.
"Today a team from Madrid was coming that also paid everything and it turns out that they have been left on land," he said in his complaint. In this case, there are 18 affected who had paid between 180 and 200 euros for plane tickets and 190 euros for the hotel. As for Lanzarote, the victims claim that the amount allegedly swindled could reach 40,000 euros.
"I just want to disappear"
The detainee was born in Argentina but had been living on the island for years, where he has worked as a churro maker. Two weeks before going to court to file the complaint against his wife and three before being arrested, Damián Horacio Pueblas published an enigmatic message on his Facebook page.
"Very sad, loneliness invades me, I have no consolation, I don't know why this is happening to me, I just want to disappear, I want to go far away and not see anyone. Thank you for everything," he published on June 7. Then, when he went to court on June 21, he stated that "a few days before" he had discovered his wife's whatsapps "flirting" with an ex-boyfriend from La Palma.
