France Detains Founder Of ‘Rape Site’
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
PARIS (Worthy News) – The founder of a website used by Dominique Pelicot to recruit strangers to rape his wife has been arrested in France after scores of men were jailed over one of the nation’s worst abuse cases.
Isaac Steidl, 44, is being interviewed by Paris detectives about the website by criminals involved in more than 23,000 crimes, including rape, murder, and pedophilia, officials said.
Steidl vanished after the scandal erupted and was thought to be living in hiding abroad, either in Italy or Eastern Europe.
French media said he reported to police early Tuesday after being summoned from his home outside the country and agreeing to fly back to Paris.
He can be held for questioning for up to 96 hours.
According to sources familiar with the case, his Coco website received almost 800,000 visitors per month before being shut down in June last year.
WITHOUT KNOWLEDGE
The website hit the headlines after it was revealed that Pelicot, 72, had used a Coco chatroom called “A son insu” (without their knowledge) to recruit more than 80 men to rape and sexually abuse his wife, Gisèle, 72, who he had rendered unconscious with a cocktail of prescription drugs.
In December, a court in Avignon sentenced retired electrician Pelicot to 20 years for drugging and raping his wife and inviting strangers to rape her at the couple’s home in the Provençal town of Mazan between 2011 and 2020.
Another 50 other men identified from the tens of thousands of videos and photographs Pelicot made of the abuse of his wife and discovered on his hard drive were also convicted and sentenced to between three and 15 years.
Since the convictions, 17 have reportedly appealed.
Gisèle Pélicot waived her right to anonymity to insist that her rape trial remains public so “this never happens again.”
In general, Worthy News does not name sexual abuse victims unless they voluntarily agree to come forward publicly.
CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIONS
The website has also been named in other criminal investigations.
In April last year, a 22-year-old man was beaten to death by a group of young men near Dunkirk after he arranged to meet what he believed to be a girl under the age of 18 through the site.
French media reported that Steidl created the website in 2010 with help from his parents. He graduated as a computer engineer with an investment of 2,000 euros ($2,062).
It was allegedly intended as a platform for romantic meetings, but it quickly attracted the attention of drug dealers, pedophiles, and sex offenders.
Yet investigators say it turned out to be a profitable business.
Police say they have frozen 5 million euros (nearly €5.2 million) in bank accounts linked to the site in Hungary, Lithuania, Germany, and the Netherlands.
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