Medellín, Colombia – Chile’s Prosecutor’s Office uncovered a pedophile ring in the southern city of Chillán, in what is one of the country’s worst cases of sexual violence against minors in recent years.
Although names have not been released by authorities, the Chilean press has signaled that the ring was led by a 64-year-old christian theologian, “Miguel”, who was highly regarded in Chillán as respectful and kind. “Miguel” groomed his stepdaughter since she was eight years old, and for over a decade, sexually abused her and recruited dozens of men to do the same, according to an investigation by BioBio, a Chilean journalism network.
Initially, the case was sparked by child pornography allegations, but as the prosecutors investigated, they realized that the victim had been photographed and violated by many.
“Miguel” had gone to a technician for help in installing a Bible program onto his laptop. Because the installation process would take a few hours, the technician urged him to leave the device with him overnight, and it was during this installation process that the technician not only came across Facebook messages in which “Miguel” advertised his stepdaughter for sexual purposes, but also thousands of explicit pictures and videos of child pornography, as BioBio found.
Investigators identified 14 perpetrators from the pictures and videos, nine of which were sentenced to five years in prison in abbreviated procedures, an alternative to oral trials in Chile. The five remaining men were sentenced to anywhere from eight to over 20 years in prison, and “Miguel” was sentenced to life in prison, according to the Prosecutor’s Office.
“It is very important to note that the work led by the Sexual Crimes Unit of the [Ñuble] region was very intense, very professional. Over 16,000 images were reviewed, more than 134 videos of sexual content, more than 600 conversations through social media dating back to 2014, and over 60 days of telephone interceptions,” prosecutor Richard Urra Blanco stated.
Regardless, BioBio has denounced that the Prosecutor’s Office has refused to open an investigation into Daniel Fuentes Yáñez, signaled by the victim and other perpetrators as the ringleader’s right-hand man who participated in rapes and was in charge of recruiting other men for the same purpose.
In an interview with the Victim’s Unit, the victim herself noted that Fuentes Yáñez was “a pedophile,” the “worst of all,” according to BioBio’s investigation.
Manipulation and grooming
“Miguel”, who the Prosecutor’s Office has identified with the M.A.O.B initials, first came into the victim’s life as a tutor, helping her complete homework. It was then that the first abuses began, when he began molesting her and showing her pornographic material when she was seven years old, BioBio found.
“I stayed quiet. I felt fearful, if I spoke out nobody would believe me. In the end, I stupidly believed that I had to sacrifice myself. I don’t know why I thought that, I was a child, and he also told me that if I said something, nobody would believe me, and that I was the one who incited all of that,” she told BioBio, choosing to remain anonymous.
After her parents separated, “Miguel” became involved in a romantic relationship with the victim’s mother, and he became a paternal figure. The victim assured that her mother did not realize what was going on because “Miguel” would abuse her when she was out of sight.
“Tatiana”, the victim’s mother, is being prosecuted as an accomplice rather than a perpetrator, after allegedly finding out about the abuse when her daughter was 15 years old. It is likely that she will escape prison.
“I always told [the victim] that everyone experiences moments of intense disillusionment, days of intense sadness. Sometimes, it is hard to believe that God continues to be graceful,” “Miguel” stated at the trial.
The first men that “Miguel” invited to abuse his step-daughter were his friends and associates; a student of his from when he taught in a school, a teacher’s assistant at the same institution. Later, he began reaching out to others through Facebook, using a picture of the victim but not her name, in advertising her abuse.
The abuse stopped when the victim was 19 years old. At first, she denied the accusations against her step-father, and in the back-and-forth with investigators, “Miguel” was able to delete evidence from when she was younger, the victim stated.
At the trial, prosecutors explained that the victim could not impede the abuse because she was a child. In this, the violations happened not through force or threat, but because “Miguel” had conditioned his step-daughter to receive the abuse.
Image Source: Fiscalía de Ñuble via X.
“[The victim] was subjected to traumatic sexualization from a very early age in experiencing persistent sexual assaults of all kinds from when she was eight years old. This abusive process altered her ability to discern between healthy relationships and abusive acts,” the Prosecutor’s Office concluded at the trial.
After “Miguel” was arrested on September 13, 2022, the victim moved on with her life, supported by her friends and her biological father.
“In the end, I decided to go on and I hope that my case helps other women who have been abused. I wish that nobody experiences what I have, but I can understand them. When it’s over, it is all about helping others, moving forward, and not giving them the pleasure of seeing me crumbling,” she told BioBio.
Chile is facing child abuse crisis
There is an acute crisis of pedophilia in Chile. In May 2024, the Chilean Children’s Ombudsman announced that between 2022 and 2023, the rates of child sexual exploitation rose by 29%. Of the 2,184 children victims of these violences, 86% were girls, 64% of which were between 14 and 17 years old.
In the report, Ñuble, the region for which Chillán is the capital, is highlighted as having one of the highest prevalences of child sexual abuse.
Another worrying statistic signals that this situation is regular for children who are under state custody. In 2023, the residential centers for the Specialized Protection Service for Children and Adolescents registered 441 allegations of child sexual exploitation, implicating 296 children and adolescents.
Furthermore, the ombudsman also noted the dangers that the digital age poses for this situation.
“The advancement and development of new information and communications technologies have revealed a series of risks associated with the use of digital platforms, and have led to a negative impact on sexual violence against children and adolescents, specifically with respect to abuse and digital sexual exploitation. In this, girls and adolescent women are the most heavily affected,” stated Anuar Quesille, Chile’s Children’s Advocate.
Since 2017, Chilean law established that those convicted of sexual crimes against minors will be indefinitely banned from educational employment, or those jobs which give them habitual contact with underage individuals. And since 2022, sentences for those convicted of these crimes ought to range between 10 and 20 years in prison.
Chile does not consider a statute of limitations for sexual crimes against minors, so victims will be able to denounce these crimes whenever they are able to without fearing the nullification of penal processes against perpetrators.
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