Ólger Ulate Ulate, 55, a Tico who traveled to Brazil to attend the FIFA World Cup, was arrested Wednesday by Brazilian police in the city of Natal for allegedly having sex with a 16-year-old transvestite prostitute, several local media reported.
Ulate was arrested after he filed a police report with local Tourism Police claiming that two prostitutes had stolen his passport, $1,500 in cash and a smartphone from his hotel room.
The police investigation led to the arrest of a sex worker named Mônica Lopes da Rocha, 32, who admitted she had been with Ulate, but said she was not involved in a robbery. Lopes said she and another sex worker provided sexual services to Ulate. When officers located the second suspect, they determined he was a minor.
Both Ulate and Lopes were taken into custody. Ulate was charged with sexual exploitation of a minor, a crime that has no bail, and the woman was charged with facilitating a sexual encounter. At the woman’s apartment, Brazilian police found Ulate’s passport, the phone and $1,000.
The minor was charged with theft but was released after giving a deposition at the police station. She admitted taking the Tico’s belongings, but claimed Ulate had refused to pay 400 reals ($180) for sexual services.
Ulate, a resident of Tilarán in the northwestern province of Guanacaste, is a provincial delegate in the National Assembly of the ruling Citizen Action Party. He does not currently hold a public post, PAC President Olivier Pérez González said.
“The only information we have is what we saw on the Brazil Police’s website. I can confirm that the man in the photograph looks like Ólger, but we must respect the police investigation and judicial process being carried out in Brazil. We also respect the principle of innocence, but we think it is a very serious and despicable act. If these facts are proven, we will begin an investigation that could end with his expulsion from the party,” Pérez told The Tico Times.
Officials from Casa Presidencial’s press office said President Luis Guillermo Solís would not comment on the issue.
