In August, a Mossos d’Esquadra officer was detained on allegations of sexually assaulting a disabled woman. He allegedly claimed to be more than a police officer and sought to influence the victim by presenting himself as someone who could assist with employment at a massage center. According to multiple sources, the officer prepared a report and organized a WhatsApp group that included the victim, who was led to believe there were additional participants ready to support the sexual requests he made for months.
The officer, reportedly connected to Manresa’s regional scientific police unit within the Comarques Centers Police District, is said to be around 55 years old, roughly thirty years older than the victim. His position within the police gave him a sense of authority and trust within the community, which allegedly enabled him to approach the vulnerable individual without arousing suspicion, given her mental disability estimated around fifty percent.
Lie
Sources indicate that the officer misled the young woman by claiming her employment could be linked to a role as a masseur with access to a job within a massage center. He created a WhatsApp group to reinforce this deception, involving a supposed massage center owner and a student. He asserted that police training helped secure a placement at the company.
The situation was a fabrication: in that WhatsApp group, only the victim and the officer communicated. He posed as these two invented figures and persuaded her to follow the suggested steps. The supposed student claimed to have followed the steps shown by the officer in the group, and that is how the job was obtained. The alleged owner corroborated these claims. Through this mechanism, the victim was led to believe there were others encouraging her to comply with demands in exchange for employment as a masseuse.
Complaint
Concern over the young woman’s mental disability prompted the family to examine her phone in early August after noticing unusual behavior. They discovered the WhatsApp group where explicit conversations took place and alerted Mossos d’Esquadra.
The case was promptly assigned to the Afers Interns Division (DAI). An investigation was launched into the Catalan police officer suspected of committing sexual offenses. The officer was arrested a few days later and transferred to the Manresa court on August 13. The presiding judge ordered preventive detention, and the officer was also barred from communicating with the victim.
According to the cited sources, the victim did not grasp the severity of the situation and believed the officer’s fabrications. The ongoing investigation concerns the sexual assault charges, with the alleged abuse lasting for months.
Second case in a short time
The Afers Interns Division also arrested another Mossos officer based in L’Hospitalet de Llobregat in April of the same year on charges related to the touching of another disabled woman. This first officer, described as a less serious case than the Manresa incident, was later cleared of charges while remaining subject to internal police actions, despite being dismissed by the Ministry of Interior.