About a year earlier, Spanish authorities in Madrid arrested four individuals connected to an assault on the home of a prominent California entrepreneur who founded the Tuenti social network. The founder, Zaryn Dentzel, was restrained, and valuable items were seized, including luxury watches. However, the group failed to steal the estimated 25 million euros held in a digital currency wallet.
The four suspects include three men and one woman, with mixed national backgrounds: two born in Morocco, one from Colombia, and a Brazilian national. They are currently in custody after arrests in Alcobendas, Getafe, and Leganés, carried out the previous Wednesday night.
Madrid police say the investigation spanned nearly a year. At the start of November, the attackers, wearing disguises, entered Dentzel’s private apartment on Ruiz de Alarcón street near Retiro Park. They overpowered the 39-year-old founder and a maintenance worker he was with, applying pepper spray to their eyes and restraining them as the assailants pursued keys to the digital wallet that contained roughly 25 million euros.
The intruders entered with the aim of seizing access to the wallet, finding the means to break into it difficult. They also took numerous bank cards, luxury watches, and two aluminum suitcases. The whereabouts of the stolen items were not immediately clear, prompting questions about how the loot would be distributed or transported afterward.
Even after using cleaning products to erase fingerprints, the assailants left the residence in separate movements, and the doorman reported difficulty in confronting them at the time of the incident.
When the operation concluded, the female member—believed to be part of the criminal organization—made off with some of the bank cards, amounting to about 2,000 euros. Police emphasized that the investigation has been lengthy and that the attackers did not all know each other personally. According to police sources, only the Brazilian woman and the Colombian, along with two other men, had a prior acquaintance.
The four convened at a residence to plan the robbery, leveraging knowledge of the victims’ routines and habits. The group’s planning reflected an understanding of the entrepreneur’s background and daily life, which helped them coordinate the attack.
After identifying the suspects, investigators learned that the woman had relocated to England. Authorities requested and received cooperation from British services, who consistently informed their Spanish counterparts about her location.
This week, as the investigation moved forward, authorities launched a four-arrest operation. One arrest occurred at a boarding house in Alcobendas, where the alleged perpetrator resided. Investigators also recovered two suitcases bearing stickers with the Tuenti logo, which the detainees later disclosed following the attack.
Charges were filed against the four individuals for kidnapping, violence and intimidation, robbery, bodily harm, coercion, threat, fraud, illegal detention, and harming a worker, alongside other related offenses.