Using a ¨modeling agency¨as front since 2009 several Costa Rican men are suspected of taking photos and videos of underage girls and uploading the material to different child pornography sites, as part of an international child pornography and human trafficking network. The investigation began in 2015 after the mother of a young girl reported the situation.

A 36-year-old man with the last names Núñez Romero and another with the last names Solano Corrales, 41 years-of-age are the main suspects and were arrested in coordinated raids; the police detained other three men related with the case.

Through ads in different communities and even social media the agency recruited girls from ages 9 and up who then attended a casting where the men took them to a room to take photos of them, at this time they would ask them to undress, take their pictures and apparently in some cases they committed sexual abuse and taped the entire scene, all while threatening to kill their mother who was waiting in a different room. The material was then uploaded to the ¨dark web¨ where it was then downloaded by members that paid anywhere from $500 to $5,000 for the material.

The Judicial Investigative Police (OIJ) explained that parents were asked to sign a contract, which many didn´t read properly, the contract had a clause where they authorized the agency to take naked pictures of their kids, something that of course is completely illegal. Costa Rica´s Attorney General, Jorge Chavarría commented ¨In Costa Rica the production and distribution of photos and videos of minors is prohibited, with or without parental consent¨.

Another six men were detained in Mexico, country were the web pages that contained the material were administered.

So far the authorities have identified 26 Costa Rican victims all between the ages of 11 and 17; at this point they´ve only had access to four of the victims. ¨It is very important that the victims and their parents come to us and file the formal legal report¨, said Chavarría.

¨We have a lot of proof. For example we have the videos where the girls are wearing particular clothes which were actually found at the agency during the raid . We found a number of cd´s which we haven´t had access to yet, but we believe they should have videos and photos that incriminate them¨, explained the Attorney General.