Dutch dangles iPhone on 4 girls for sex, nabbed

CEBU, Philippines — On the pretext that he would give them money and the latest iPhone model, a 52-year-old Dutch national invited four underage girls to his house in Talisay City yesterday dawn and allegedly solicited sexual favors from them.

In a joint operation, police swooped down on the suspect, who was identified as Stephen De Groot. All four girls, ages between 13 and 16, were also successfully rescued.

De Groot, a native of the Netherlands who is temporarily living at Santa Monica Estate in Barangay Mohon, Talisay City, became the subject of the operation after a parent of one of the girls sought help from the police.

This after the parent found out that her daughter had lied to her about going to her sister’s place.

While looking for her daughter, she bumped into a village watchman outside De Groot’s place, who in turn told her there were girls inside.

Alarmed, she showed him a picture of her daughter and the watchman positively matched the picture with one of the girls he saw with the foreigner.

“Anang sayo-sayo nananghid nga moadto sa Pardo kay naa didto ang igsuon. Unya labandera og panday ang ginikanan. Gabii na wala pa ni maabot, gitawagan ang igsuon pero wala man daw didto tibuok adlaw.

“Gipangita nila. Dihang naabtan, naa nagtapok sa Sta. Monica, nga lagi naa daw mga bata kuyog ang foreigner. Pagpakita sa picture, niana man pareha,” said Chief Inspector Ardiolito Cabagnot, deputy chief of Talisay City Police Station.

Acting on the report, a team consisting members of the city police, the International Justice Mission (IJM), and the Provincial Women’s Commission (PWC) was hatched, which eventually led to De Groot’s arrest.

Cabagnot said De Groot and the girls were about to go out when the team arrived.

He said the girls were fully-clothed.

Cabagnot said one of the girls confessed that they were promised P500 in exchange of sexual acts with the suspect. One of them was allegedly promised the latest iPhone model, costing about P50,000.

In an interview with reporters yesterday morning, Vice Governor Agnes Magpale, chairwoman of the Provincial Women’s Commission, said she received information that the girls were from Barangay Lagtang of the same city.

It remained unclear whether the girls had been raped by the suspect.

Magpale said two of the girls are now in the custody of social workers at a center owned by the provincial government while the other two were undergoing physical examination at the pink room, as of this writing.

Meanwhile, De Groot is now detained at the Talisay City Police Station pending the filing of a qualified trafficking case against him by the provincial government and the victims’ parents.

Common in Cebu

Similar cases of foreigners and locals involved in trafficking children are common in Cebu. Thanks to community vigilance and the participation of some groups such as the IJM and PWC, some of these cases have been reported and the suspects taken to courts.

In fact, the rescue of the four girls came just a day after a court in Lapu-Lapu City sentenced 24-year-old online trafficker Paul John Berame to 15 years in jail.

Berame was originally charged with violation of Republic Act 9208 or Qualified Trafficking in Persons Act 2003 as amended by RA 10364 or the Expanded Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act 2012, a violation that leads to a penalty of life imprisonment.

He, however, entered into a plea bargain but pleading guilty to a lower offense.

Thus, he was also ordered by the court to pay a total P650,000 in fines and damages and spend such jail term.

Berame was arrested in an entrapment operation initiated by the Women and Children Protection Center Visayas Field Unit (WCPC-VFU) of the Police Regional Office-7 in April last year in Purok Kulo, Barangay Canjulao of the city. Three underage girls were rescued at the time.

The operation was also coordinated with IJM.

Surveillance showed that Berame was involved in online sexual exploitation (OSEC), providing online pedophiles and perpetrators with nude photos of the victims whose age ranged from six to 14.

Back in February, a court in Cebu also convicted Australian national Drew Frederick Shobbrook of human trafficking and sentenced him to life in prison.

The court ruled that Shobbrook was guilty of four counts of qualified trafficking in persons punishable under Section 6 of Republic Act 9208 or the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act. Apart from a life imprisonment sentence, he was also slapped with a fine of P2 million.

In addition, Shobbrook was also convicted of possession of child pornography with intent to sell or distribute, and sentenced to 20 years in prison with a fine of P1 million.

He was collared in 2013 at his apartment in Cebu City after four minor girls filed a complaint accusing him of sexually exploiting them.

A Filipino identified as Leslie Ann Fernandez helped him in recruiting young girls and selling videos of them on the internet. — JMD (FREEMAN)