Special Investigation Service arrests one for pedophilia, sexual extortion, depraved acts against minors

Georgia’s Special Investigation Service on Tuesday said it had arrested one individual for pedophilia, sexual extortion and depraved acts against minors in the western Georgian region of Samegrelo, with investigation revealing eight facts of offences involving dozens of girls aged 10 to 18 from different cities of the country.

The Service said its investigation had revealed the arrested 32-year-old man had created fake social network accounts before communicating with the victims and introducing himself as their peer, gaining their trust before forcing them to send intimate photos and videos. He made threats of killing the victims’ family members or creating intimate pictures from the victims’ public photographs and sharing the materials with their friends and relatives in case of refusal.

The body said the individual used the material obtained from the minors to force them to perform sexual acts on intimate parts of the body and produce and send further photos and videos.

It said the accused had also communicated with his minor 15-year-old relative in Georgia’s west via a fake social network profile, introducing himself as her peer, with the offence taking place in March. He then asked her to take and send naked photos of her 13-year-old sister, threatening to kill her if she refused. The victim sent her own photos instead of her sister’s, after which the man systematically asked her to send new photo and video materials. The arrested individual sent the photos of the minor to her neighbours, friends and acquaintances after the victim blocked him on social media.

In another case, the alleged perpetrator contacted and gained the trust of an 11-year-old girl in December last year, threatening to share information about their communication with her relatives, before obtaining her intimate photos and videos. The accused then sent the obtained materials to the victim’s adult sister and demanded them to perform sexual acts on intimate parts of each other's bodies and acts of sexual manner.

The body said the arrested individual had also contacted a 13-year-old minor and obtained her intimate photos by threatening to share information of their communication. He then systematically threatened and blackmailed her to perform sexual acts on her body and forced her to send videos and photos of her intimate parts, with the incident taking place in Georgia's Kvemo Kartli region in June last year.

It added the offender had also involved a minor and four underage girls with a “similar criminal scheme” in western region of Adjara and city of Kutaisi as well as Rustavi, a city south-east of capital Tbilisi, between 2023 and 2024.

The Service said its professionals had arrested the alleged perpetrator in June and seized his fake social network accounts, as well as the history of private communications with dozens of minors containing intimate content, threats and coercion, with the body also identifying seven additional underage and minor victims.

The law enforcers also recovered combat cartridges during a search of the offender's residential house.

The Service added its investigation was ongoing, with the crime punishable by imprisonment for 15 years.