A teenager said she was abused for 15 hours

The sentence imposed after the hearing reconstructed the human trafficking circuit that operated in two houses in Bahía Blanca between 2022 and 2023. But no part of the case is as brutal as the story of the 17-year-old teenager who lived with the other two victims. According to the evidence, the minor stated that she was sexually subjugated by a man for 15 hours and that in another episode she fainted and when she regained consciousness she noticed injuries and signs of abuse on her body. He received neither medical assistance nor restraint: Karina Carrasco, the main defendant, was on site and did not intervene.

This statement was the heart of the file. For the court – made up of judges Ernesto Sebastián, José Fabián Asis and Marcos Javier Aguerrido – the young woman’s testimony made it possible to measure the violence and the control structure that Carrasco maintained. The woman was sentenced to eight years in prison as a perpetrator of human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation, which was aggravated by the number of victims, their precarious situation, the involvement of several people and the completion of the exploitation.

The ruling describes how Carrasco recruited victims who were homeless, without financial support, far from family or with a history of abuse. He promised them housing and then subjected them to a regime that forced them to have six to seven sexual encounters per day. Without her consent, he published her intimate photos on an escort site, set the rates and provided his own number to coordinate appointments. He kept half of the money, but also charged them for food, clothing, toilet paper, medicine and even condoms, which were provided free by the public health system.

The teenager recounted situations that confirmed the bigger picture: forced cocaine and pill use to “last longer,” isolation, phone bans, and fines for non-compliance. In this context of detention, her testimony showed that the minor was completely defenseless against the clients and Carrasco himself.

The investigation began on May 12, 2023 based on a complaint to management 145 from an employee of the Municipal Acute Hospital Dr. Leonidas Lucero. On that day, a 19-year-old girl was admitted with injuries consistent with drug abuse and effects. There he revealed that he lived with two other victims, including the minor. With this information, the public prosecutor’s office – led by prosecutor Agustín Carestia and deputy prosecutor Justo Sebastián – ordered undercover investigations in the houses in Tucumán (12 p.m.) and Catamarca (500 p.m.). The operations confirmed the exploitation.

In addition to Carrasco, his brother Santiago was also sentenced as an accessory to four years in prison, a sentence that was consolidated to five years due to a previous conviction. Lawyer José Andreatta was sentenced to four years in prison for collaborating with the organization, providing legal advice to the main defendant, having the identity card of another person and possessing drugs for marketing purposes. The owner of one of the apartments, Marta Sanso, was sentenced to two years of conditional execution.

The court ordered the seizure of the two properties and ordered financial compensation of P20 million for two victims and P13 million for the third victim.

In their justification, the judges pointed out that the minor’s story not only made it possible to reconstruct the facts of the case, but also made it possible to prove that the victims were exposed to a system of exploitation based on coercion, economic manipulation and psychological violence. This testimony – precise, coherent and accompanied by other elements of evidence – was crucial in establishing the aggravating factor of extreme vulnerability.

The ruling concludes that the teenager endured a period of abuse and imprisonment that exceeds any known level of sexual exploitation in the region. And that the case was able to come to light only thanks to the medical intervention that enabled the activation of the complaint, the support of the National Rescue Program and the decision of the victims to tell what happened even in conditions of extreme vulnerability.