Second Brother Arrested In Costa Rica For Child Porn Charges

On June 5, Costa Rican law enforcement authorities detained a man, who is one of the two brothers suspected of producing and distributing child pornography content on the dark web, and sexually assaulting a nine-year-old girl since she was six-years-old.

On the morning of May 23, police detained a 35-year-old man, the first brother, in San Miguel de Higuito de Desamparados, Costa Rica, who is suspected of crimes of sexual abuse of a minor and dissemination of child pornography.

The investigation started with Interpol alerting Costa Rica’s Organismo de Investigación Judicial (OIJ – Judicial Investigation Agency in English) of a suspect, identified by the last name Rojas, who allegedly posted images and videos of sexually explicit content of the nine-year-old victim on darknet pedophile forums. According to the police information, investigators obtained the IP address of the 35-year-old suspect and followed it to a two-story building in San Miguel de Higuito de Desamparados, where the upload of the child porn content was allegedly conducted.

Law enforcement authorities uncovered that the 35-year-old was renting a small apartment on the second floor for approximately three years from a couple, who had two children, 13 and nine years of age, latter becoming the victim of the man. Rojas was unemployed, performing odd jobs at the house where lived at. According to the police, the 35-year-old suffered from serious health problems that prevented him from working at a full-time job.

The couple regarded Rojas as their “adopted son”, earning their trust and affection. However, the man took advantage of the trust and the young girl. He sexually abused the nine-year-old girl while her parents were not home, locking up the 13-year-old child in one of the rooms claiming that he needed privacy.

During the search of Rojas’ apartment, law enforcement authorities discovered hundreds of porn videos and sexual toys. During the forensic analysis, investigators had seen that the 35-year-old was sexually abusing the nine-year-old girl. According to the police, the man allegedly sent the video to online pedophiles located in Australia and France.

When investigators questioned the neighbors, they told the police that Rojas pretty much kept to himself and often took the nine-year-old girl to school on his motorcycle, and would record children playing with his tablet.

On June 5, the OIJ arrested the second brother just 500 meters (five blocks) away from where the victim and the other brother lived. The 37-year-old man is suspected of the same crimes: the production and distribution of child porn content, and the alleged sexual abuse of a nine-year-old girl.

The Organismo de Investigación Judicial raided the home of the suspect, where they were able to confiscate three computers, which investigators believe were used to upload the videos and images containing child pornography content to dark web pedophile forums. In addition, law enforcement authorities also seized multiple hard drives from the 37-year-old. Most importantly, investigators found approximately 300 videos on the man’s computers that allegedly contains sexually explicit content of children.

According to the prosecutor’s office, law enforcement authorities located the 37-year-old with the same technique as they used to arrest his brother: they tracked down his IP address, which he used to connect to the internet. We do not know whether any of the brothers used encryption tools or the Tor Browser to mask their identity. However, since investigators were able to locate them through their IP address, it is likely that none of the suspects used any of these tools.

Investigators at the OIJ believe that both brothers sexually abused the nine-year-old girl for a period of three years, meaning that the girl was only six-years-old when they started abusing her. While the 35-year-old took advantage of the opportunity that he was alone with the victim, he produced the videos, while the other brother uploaded them to dark web pedophile forums, police information says.

Soon after the 35-year-old was arrested, the prosecutor’s office ordered 12-months preventive detention for the man. The prosecution is expected to make the same decision in the case of the other brother too.