The 24-year-old Gianni de W. from Etten-Leur is suspected of extorting more than a hundred underage girls, the Public Prosecution Service (OM) reported in court in Breda on Thursday. According to the judiciary, De W. seduced them into sending nude photos and then extorted them.
According to the Public Prosecution Service, this is the largest investigation into online abuse of minors in the Netherlands ever. It is not known in what period the extortions took place.
On his computer, the police found 150 folders with different girls’ names. Some subfolders contained thousands of images of a victim, says the public prosecutor. “He has made the lives of his victims hell.”
The police are far from done with the investigation. The identities of dozens of underage girls have yet to be determined. The victims are mostly minors and live all over the country. The investigation started with a report from a girl from North Holland. She was fifteen when she was blackmailed.
De W. approached victims via social media
The officer speaks of sextortion. That is extortion with sexually suggestive photos or videos of the victim by asking them for more racy photos or videos. The suspect would also have asked one of his victims to have sex with her boyfriend and film it for him.
According to the officer, De W. approached his victims via social media. The sextortion had a huge impact on the victims, the prosecutor said. One of his victims was only thirteen years old. “She reacted in panic, fearful and emotionally. This worsened her relationship with her mother, who has since passed away,” said the officer.
So far, the identities of several dozen victims have been traced. Eight girls have already filed a report against De W., but the police and the Public Prosecution Service expect this number to rise considerably. De W. was arrested on October 11 and has been detained ever since. He will also be detained for the next three months, the court decided. A large amount of child pornographic material was found on his computer.
