The Mendoza justice system issued a sentence in the city of San Rafael to Gabriel Ramos Vilchez, a former candidate for council accused of the exploitation of minors and distribution of child sexual abuse material. According to sources from the newspaper Los Andes, Vilchez received a sentence of four years and three months of effective prison after pleading guilty in an abbreviated trial.
The investigation led by prosecutor Javier Giaroli revealed that Vilchez, who had been detained since August, possessed at least 75 prohibited videos. As a result, he lost the benefit of house arrest that had been granted to him. The Investigative Unit of the Mendoza Police conducted 16 raids in various locations in San Rafael and two in Malargüe.
The operation resulted in the detention of 15 people and the seizure of about 5,000 videos and photos of sexual content. The facts are associated with child sexual abuse material, as well as grooming. The suspects, mostly men except for one woman and one trans person, were taken to police stations and charged.
Among those detained was a Green Party council candidate and a graphic designer. One of the defendants revealed having strange fetishes, such as buying underwear to smell it, while another pretended to be a girl on social media to contact minors. Additionally, another individual was selling sexual images of children for between 80 and 100 dollars in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Tether, and possessed about 800 prohibited videos.
Currently, there are two legal cases underway, one in San Rafael and another in Buenos Aires. In the latter, it was discovered that a minor from Tandil was contacted by a person from Malargüe, from whom a shotgun was seized after it was photographed and sent to the minor involved.
