A man arrested for sexually assaulting a foreign woman
The Spanish police have arrested a man in Barcelona who pretended to be a lawyer specializing in foreign affairs and who had sexually assaulted a foreign woman with the promise of regularizing her administrative situation.
the facts
It all started in July 2022, when the victim’s period of legal stay in Spain expired and just before that he received a job offer. For this reason, he wanted to advise on the steps he had to follow to formalize the offer. She then met the assailant, who introduced himself as an immigration lawyer.
When explaining the situation to him, the man told him that the fastest way was to find a Spaniard who would pretend to be his partner, offering himself under the pretext that he had liked him very much. From there, the ordeal the victim went through begins.
the scam
The supposed lawyer asked the victim for 1,000 euros in the form of ‘Provision of funds for the foreigner’s procedure in front of the Subdelegation of Barcelona’, which the victim paid him without the man going through any procedure. After some time without hearing any news, the victim demanded the return of the amount paid, a moment that the aggressor took advantage of to register her at her address and thus be able to show that the procedure was still progressing.
Sexual assault
The assailant managed to convince the woman so that, before appearing before the notary and before a possible interview, they would be alone at the author’s home, under the pretext of getting to know each other better. Taking advantage of the victim’s vulnerable situation and without her consent, the detainee stapled her breasts, stating that it was the only way to answer the notary’s questions, knowing each other.
In addition to all this, the alleged lawyer repeatedly reminded the woman that she was in an irregular situation and that if she did not pay the amounts he demanded, in this case, another payment of 2,000 euros, the she would end up reporting to Estrangeria and they would take her out of the country, causing her a feeling of total helplessness.
The complaint and the arrest
The victim received a call from his new lawyer, notifying the lack of certain documents that his previous lawyer had to provide for the completion of the procedure. At that same moment, the fake lawyer again demanded another payment, threatening her and making numerous calls from different phone numbers, and even sending her a video of him masturbating .
This situation caused the woman to have a severe anxiety attack, which is why she had to be treated in a health center and was forced to lodge a complaint with the Mossos d’Esquadra.
Since the aggressor did not change his attitude, the woman decided to report the facts to the Unit against Immigration Networks and Documentary Falsifications of the Spanish police. On the part of the investigators, it was possible to verify that the alleged lawyer was never listed as a registered lawyer in the General Council of the Spanish Bar’s Register of Lawyers. As a result of the investigation, this person was arrested as the alleged perpetrator of the crimes of sexual assault, extortion, harassment against the rights of foreign citizens, aggravated professional trespass and two minor crimes of injury and damage.