The Public Security Ministry arrested two men this week and nine last week in its continued crackdown on convicted and alleged sex offenders.
Officials from the Public Security’s Unit against Sexual Exploitation Monday arrested a man with the last name Pérez, who was wanted by the Prosecutor’s Office in Osa, in the Southern Zone, for allegedly sexually abusing a 3-year-old boy, according to a Public Security Ministry statement.
It appeared Pérez was preparing to flee, the statement said, as he had just quit a top position at a bank in Palmar Norte, in the Southern Zone, where he had worked for 20 years. Officials arrested Pérez as he shopped at a local commercial center with one of his daughters.
The same day, police in Cartago, east of San José, arrested a man by the last name of Montano, who was wanted for the rape of a minor.
According to a police statement, Montano is the 29th person arrested this year for charges related to sex crimes.
Last week, police arrested three farmers, an accountant, a janitor, a baker and three security guards who were living in various parts of the country, and according to police face charges of rape, attempted rape, sexual misconduct and rape of a minor.
They were identified with the last names of Barquero, Chaves, Coto, Espinoza, González, Obando, Pineda, Ramírez and Romero.
Paúl Chávez, the director of the Directorate of Special Investigations (DIE), which is overseeing the Public Security Ministry’s hunt for convicted and wanted sex criminals, estimated that there are 250 convicted sex criminals on the loose, and hopes to arrest 100 this year (TT, March 3, 2006).
