The Quepos mayor arrested for the second time last week on sexual slavery, child pornography and embezzlement charges is out of jail again, confirmed the Penal Court of Aguirre and Parrita.
Lutgardo Bolaños walked out of jail Friday just one day after his second arrest in a month. Bolaños was first taken into custody on Dec. 21, 2011 facing allegations from the Judicial Investigation Police (OIJ) that he and his driver had used public funds and vehicles from the Aguirre Municipality to travel the country hiring underage girls to perform in pornographic videos. A raid of Bolaños’s house turned up more than 600 compact disks containing pornography as well as videos of the same nature on his personal computer, an OIJ report said.
Aguirre Municipality Mayor Lutgardo Bolaños.
Alberto Font
The mayor posted bail and left jail the next day, but was re-arrested Jan. 12, 2012, according to a new OIJ report, after authorities talked to new alleged victims, several of whom were 14- and 15-year-old girls. Three other suspects also were arrested Thursday including Jimmy Acuña Martinez, a bar owner, Vilma Campos Quesada, a woman accused of recruiting girls for the films, and Reymundo Herrera Porras, another Aguirre Municipality employee, according to an OIJ spokeswoman. The OIJ report described the suspects as “a band organized for the goal of human trafficking.”
The daily La Nación reported that Bolaños, Acuña, Campos and Herrera were released Friday on the conditions that they not leave the country, that they register their locations every 15 days and that they not approach any of the alleged victims.
The Penal Court of Aguirre and Parrita confirmed that the suspects had been released with “preventive measures.”
