According to El Tiempo, authorities have recorded at least 20 arrests of foreign nationals in Medellin related to specific incidents in the last years. Several of these individuals have been convicted, while others are currently undergoing trial. The remaining cases are just beginning to enter the judicial process.
Dominick A. Divencenzo
The American Dominick Divencenzo, 40, was captured at the end of February of this year in a luxurious apartment located in the La Floresta neighborhood. Investigators from the United States Department of Homeland Security, the National Police and the Attorney General's Office accused him of sexually exploiting at least four teenagers at eccentric parties in which he supplied them with hallucinogenic substances. A judge issued him a detention order in a prison for the crimes of access or abusive sexual act with inability to resist and demand for commercial sexual exploitation with a person under 18 years of age.
Stefan Andres Correa
The case files reveal that Stefan Andrés Correa confessed to raping minors who resisted his sexual advances. This information came to light following his arrest on April 19, as he attempted to board a well-known airline's flight from Miami to Bogotá, planning to continue to Medellín. There, traffickers were allegedly set to meet him with four children aged between 10 and 12 years old. Correa is accused of having agreed to pay 300,000 pesos and provide an iPhone 7, 8, or XS for each child.
Zhan Liu
A judge has released the Chinese citizen who was initially arrested for being with a minor in Medellín. As the girl in question used a false ID authorities are now investigating her actions.
Mustafa Mase
The German national was incarcerated for purported sexual exploitation of minors in Apartadó. Following the prosecutor's request, a judge ordered Mustafá Mase to be detained as a preventive measure. He is accused of aggravated commercial sexual exploitation of minors, production of child pornography, and engaging in sexual acts with a minor under 14 years old.
Brendan Scott Wootan
The 57-year-old American was sent to prison. According to the Prosecutor's Office, the events occurred on April 18 in a building in El Poblado. According to the investigation by a prosecutor from the Immediate Reaction Unit (URI), Brendan Scott Wootan, 57, had tricked a 17-year-old girl into his apartment. Once he had her there in a defenseless state, he tried to sexually abuse her, but when the young woman refused to receive money to have sexual relations, the subject would have violently taken her out of the apartment.
Brandon Seth Wood
Brandon Seth Wood, a 51-year-old American, has been imprisoned by a court in Medellín on charges of commercially sexually exploiting a minor under the age of 14. The arrest followed the discovery of Wood with a 15-year-old in the Aranjuez neighborhood.
Timothy Alan Livingston
An Interpol blue circular has been issued against Timothy Alan Livingston, a North American citizen, after he was discovered with two minors in Medellín on March 28, in a suspected case of sexual abuse. Furthermore, Alan Livingston is under investigation in the United States for two similar incidents.
Richard Opalinski
Richard Opalinski, also known by his alias "El Químico," a 48-year-old American, was detained by both Colombian and North American authorities. His arrest occurred in the Obrero de Bello neighborhood at the end of last February. According to the investigation, Opalinski engaged with his victims on social media, subsequently coercing them to consume substances like methamphetamines and tusi to facilitate various forms of sexual abuse. The National Police, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and the Attorney General's Office conducted the investigation, drawing on testimonies from six victims over the course of more than a year.
Angad Amit Beharry
Angad Amit Beharry, a New York police officer, was arrested in January this year for buying pornographic content from a woman who was filming sexual videos of her 19-month-old daughter. Beharry was detained in the United States and is alleged to have requested additional material depicting the child in sexual acts with an animal, which the mother refused to provide.
Krishan Agarwal (Orion Depp)
Krishan Agarwal, who used the pseudonym Orion Depp on social media, is an American influencer and businessman of Indian descent. He was arrested by Colombian authorities on August 18 at El Dorado International Airport in Bogotá as he attempted to leave the country. Agarwal has been charged with soliciting commercial sexual exploitation of minors related to incidents in Bello, Antioquia. It is reported that he enticed his victims—six minors have been identified—offering them up to 250,000 pesos to produce pornographic videos.
Srikanth Goduro
Srikanth Goduro, apparently a friend of Orion Depp, was looking for girls and adolescents between the ages of 14 and 15 on social networks to sexually abuse and exploit them. In mid-September, the National Police captured him at the El Dorado airport minutes before boarding a commercial flight to Cancun. In the last two years, according to Migración Colombia, the man entered the country about 15 times. The objective of their visits was, apparently, to contact minors in private places to offer them money and sexually violate them. Goduro, originally from India, posed as an English teacher to gain the girls' trust.
Jaymes Schulte
Former boxer Jaymes Schulte was captured last November in Miami after being accused of sexually abusing minors in Colombia. The American citizen, apparently, was in contact with a network of pimps on ten different occasions, between 2018 and 2022, when he entered the country, to have sexual relations with girls between the ages of 4 and 13.
Heinz Pool Buleje
The trial against Heinz Pool Buleje is progressing for the crimes of sexual exploitation with a person under 18 years of age, sexual tourism, among others. The Peruvian-American citizen was captured at the end of 2017 on a farm in Copacabana (Antioquia), where he was found with 15 minors whom he allegedly subjected to all types of sexual abuse. Although the United States justice requested his extradition, the Supreme Court of Justice denied the request and his case is progressing in the Medellín courthouse.
Thomas Michael Renno
The Medellín circuit court, exercising its judicial powers, is set to deliver a verdict in the case against Thomas Michael Renno for the crime of demanding sexual exploitation with a person under 18 years old. He offered up to $100 to girls between 13 and 17 years of age to have sexual relations with him. Renno would have entered the country seven times between 2017 and 2018.
Haven Edwardantione Cates III
Haven Edwardantione Cates III was captured by Colombian and American authorities on a street in Chicago (USA) in the middle of last year. Since 2018, the man entered Colombia on more than 36 occasions, when he took the opportunity to look for minors and offer them money in exchange for having sexual relations. According to investigations into the case, the man required his victims to tattoo his name to be marked and access extra money.
Héctor Ramón Rocher Salas
In May 2023, the Attorney General's Office confirmed the sentence of 10 years and 6 months in prison against the Mexican lawyer Héctor Ramón Rocher Salas, 62, who was found guilty of the crimes of sexual acts with minors and pornography with people under 18 years of age. The man, who frequently traveled to the country, took advantage of his visits to buy pornographic videos from a woman from Medellín who recorded her 11 and 14-year-old daughters. The events occurred between 2020 and 2021, according to the authorities' investigation.
Michael Roberts
Former Texas state teacher Michael Wayne Roberts, 41, was convicted in May of last year by a Federal Court in Austin for having paid three minors between the ages of 13 and 15 for sex in Medellín during December 2020 and June. 2021. The man was captured in September 2022 and has remained in the custody of the US authorities since then. Roberts must serve 7 years in prison and a decade of probation. One of his victims said last October that the man stayed in different apartments in the city where he offered them up to 400,000 pesos for having sexual relations.
Victor Galarza
Víctor Galarza was captured in New York in October 2019. He was one of the first detainees in the framework of a transnational investigation called 'Breaking chains' that allowed the dismantling of a dangerous network that recorded sexual videos of girls and adolescents and He uploaded to pornographic sites like Pornhub. Galarza was sentenced to 17 years in prison for the crimes of sexual exploitation and child pornography in his country of origin. The NGO Libertas Internacional counts nine victims of the man alone in Medellín.
Herbert Fletcher
One of Galarza's associates, known as Herbert Fletcher, 42, was sentenced in June of last year to 7 years in prison by a Federal Court in the Eastern District of New York. The man used to travel to Medellín to recruit victims while posing as a wealthy businessman. Although he was initially captured in Antioquia in 2019, a judge released him and he was later prosecuted by US authorities.
Abel Fernandez
In September 2021, the Aburrá Valley Metropolitan Police confirmed the capture of Abel Fernández, a Cuban-American citizen who allegedly abused around 70 boys and girls south of the Medellín metropolitan area. Although the man was prosecuted for the crimes of commercial sexual exploitation with persons under 18 years of age, abusive carnal access with a minor under 14 years of age, sexual acts with a minor under 14 years of age, a judge released him due to expiration of terms. Last year he committed suicide in Miami.
20 foreigners have been captured in Medellin for sexual exploitation
Since 2018, I have lived in Medellín. My role as a digital nomad over the past decade initially brought me to the city, and I quickly became fond of it during a three-month stay. Beyond the pleasant climate, I appreciate Medellín's green environment and the nearby charming villages with unique microclimates. My interests include travel, exploring diverse cuisines, and studying history. I hope this website will enable me to share my experiences and offer insights to those curious about Medellín and Colombia.