The Attorney General of Buenos Aires, Julio Conte Grand, said that there could be "many more" cases of young victims of abuse or sexual harassment, based on the investigation that is being carried out in response to the allegations of abuse of players in the youth teams of Independiente, in which there are already 17 minors involved.
Confirmation of 8 more abuse victims in Independiente
Last Friday, a 58-year-old football representative, Alberto Ponte, was arrested, accused of the crime of "grooming". According to Conte Grand, cyberbullying "is the gateway that has opened up and will allow us to reach many more cases."
Asked about how far the investigation being conducted by prosecutor María Soledad Garibaldi can go, Conte Grand said that "it is impossible to determine" and that they are working on a "coincidence in the profile of the victims that opens up a universe that we cannot foresee today."
Raids carried out and a new arrest in the Independiente abuse case
That profile, he described, consists of "extremely vulnerable children, with a desire to progress, clearly in a state that has allowed the access of individuals like those we are investigating. By determining this universe, we cannot close it off or specify a horizon for investigation."
The Attorney General clarified that this "is not a network that sought out children" but "individual situations in which the people who commit these crimes pass on information about children who are here or elsewhere."
The chief prosecutor did not want to give more details about other boarding houses that could be involved as places where children are recruited until there is confirmation from the investigation, but he noted that they are occasional places. He also reiterated that, as of today, there are no famous individuals being investigated in the case.
No celebrities involved in the pedophilia case related to football, says the Prosecutor
Lastly, Conte Grand assured that "we are facing an event of enormous magnitude, not only because of the number of incidents that we will clarify and the number of people who have committed these crimes that we will end up taking to trial, but because I have an inner feeling that we are facing a breakthrough in society's perception of crimes against the sexual integrity of minors." The Independiente case, the Attorney General stated, "will serve as a turning point for society to become aware, because we are facing a huge scourge."