The case against the highway patrol officer arrested for kidnapping and abusing a young woman in City Bell is progressing steadily. In the last few hours it was decided that his pre-trial detention would be converted into preventive detention as part of an investigation into aggravated kidnapping, sexual abuse resulting in serious bodily harm with a firearm and aggravated robbery.
According to the indictment, the crimes the defendant is accused of – in ideal and real competition under the Penal Code – include the use of his legal weapon to intimidate the victim, deprivation of liberty, transport in his vehicle to a property in a suburb of Buenos Aires and sexual subjugation.
The victim testified before the prosecution and gave details of the attack: she reported that she was accosted in the City Bell area in broad daylight, forcefully forced to get into her car and then taken to Pereyra Iraola Park for about 30 minutes, where she was abused.
After the incident, investigators analyzed surveillance cameras that recorded the moment of the kidnapping, traced the vehicle’s route and identified the suspect. The officer was arrested in Florencio Varela as he tried to flee in a stolen car and with his service weapon, ammunition and other confiscated items.
During his investigation, the defendant refrained from making a statement. Based on the elements collected – video, vehicle tracking, witness statements – the public prosecutor’s office concludes that there are “clear indications and semi-complete evidence” to advance the preventive detention measure.
The seriousness of the crimes, the status of the suspect as a representative of the state in a position of authority and the risk of escape or obstruction of the investigation are the main reasons justifying the formal application to the court.
The request for preventive detention was made to the judiciary to ensure that the person concerned remains detained during the legal proceedings, without the possibility of release, while evidence is collected and the case continues.
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