FBI arrests Texas man for filming child gang-rape in mall restroom By Tuhin Das Mahapatra :-Hindustan Times Jan 12 2024

 

The suspect, 29-year-old Arthur Hector Fernandez III, has been charged with the sexual exploitation of children.

A shocking child sexual abuse case has come to light in Texas, where a man has been arrested for allegedly filming himself and six other men gang-raping two toddlers in a public restroom of a busy shopping mall.

The FBI announced this week that they received videos of the horrific crimes from the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation (ACCCE), which discovered them on the dark web. The videos show the abuse of two children, aged 2 and 3, in the restroom of the Houston Galleria, one of the most famous malls in Texas.

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The accused, 29-year-old Arthur Hector Fernandez III, faces charges related to the sexual exploitation of children, as reported by KRIV. He was a former employee at the Galleria, where he allegedly lured the children and their families.

According to the report, one of the videos shows a male child lying on a changing table in a restroom stall while an unidentified man assaults him and Fernandez records the act with his phone.

Another child, a female, is seen in three other videos provided by ACCCE to the FBI. She is also on a changing table in one of the videos, where multiple men take turns raping her. Fernandez is among the perpetrators in at least two of the videos, authorities say.

Suspect exploited the parents’ work schedules to rape their children: FBI

The FBI said they were able to identify Fernandez through the clothing and accessories he and the children wore in the videos. They contacted the relatives of the two toddlers, who recognized the items and confirmed that Fernandez was a friend of theirs.

A relative of the first child told the FBI that they had to work on an unscheduled day and had no babysitter for their child. They brought the child to their workplace, where Fernandez volunteered to look after him. That was the only time the child was alone with Fernandez, according to court documents.

The documents state that this incident occurred on May 6 and that it likely happened at a restroom in the Galleria, which has “public restrooms, private stalls, and changing tables.”

A relative of the second child said they faced a similar situation when they took their child to work. Fernandez offered to babysit her, saying he would walk her around the mall and keep her entertained.

The relative also said that Fernandez watched their child two more times without them once in December 2022 and then on Oct. 31, when he took her trick-or-treating.

The FBI said they found evidence linking Fernandez to the crimes at his residence. They said they saw a pair of white, low-top Converse All-Star shoes on the floor in one of the videos, and they found three pairs of the same shoes at his address. They also seized several electronic devices that could contain sexual abuse material.