In the last two years, Stefan Andrés Correa traveled 45 times from the United States to Colombia. The frequency of his visits put him under the scrutiny of the authorities. Upon investigating, they discovered that the 42-year-old man was a pedophile who repeated trips to sexually abuse minors in Medellín, Antioquia. For this reason, on April 19 he was captured at a Miami airport accused of “sexual trafficking of a minor and attempted travel to engage in illicit sexual conduct.” In accordance with press releases from the United States Attorney's Officewas arrested when, again, he intended to travel to Colombia.
During his arrest, the United States authorities found him nine cell phones in which he had numerous evidence of his crimes. On the devices he had everything from recordings of sexual abuse—which he shared with other adults—to conversations with a pimp in Colombia who, apparently, was his intermediary with the girls in Medellín. The W Radio station published some segments of the conversations between Correa and the pimp, in which the American reiterates his preference for girls between 11 and 12 years old and details what their physical build should be like. In an even more crude and gruesome fragment, the subject demands that the girls must endure the torture to which he wishes to subject them, in exchange for giving them cell phones and paying them 300,000 pesos (around $75).
The mayor of Medellín, Federico Gutiérrez, spoke for the first time about the case this Tuesday. In X's profile he noted that Correa's capture was achieved thanks to coordinated action between his administration and the United States authorities. That same Tuesday, Correa, who worked as a pharmacist in Florida, was facing an arraignment hearing on charges that could condemn him to a sentence of at least 15 years in prison, but could reach life imprisonment.
Correa's arrest joins those of more than a dozen foreigners who have been detained in the last year for crimes of trafficking and sexual exploitation of children and adolescents in Colombia, mostly committed in the capital of Antioquia. The most recent case that achieved great visibility was that of Timothy Alan Livingston, another North American citizen accused of sexual exploitation after being found with two minors in a hotel.
The Livingston case was key to finding Correa because, as Gutiérrez revealed in a press conference this Wednesday, one of the girls who was abused by Livingston indicated the presence of another American. “When Timothy Alan's victims are interviewed, information about this subject is obtained, [Stefan Andrés Correa], who paid the rent and food for the girls in different places in the city to continue sexually exploiting them,” said the mayor. Gutiérrez also warned about the existence of a mafia that profits from the sexual exploitation of minors, of which both Livingston and Correa were clients. Colonel Edwin Urrego, from the Criminal Investigation Directorate of the National Police, confirmed to various media the existence of a pedophile network led by Colombians that offers sexual services with minors to foreigners on the web.
So far, the National Government has not commented on the Correa case. A few weeks ago, President Gustavo Petro announced that Colombia was going to request Livingston's extradition, although Univision has reported that not even the pedophile's relatives They are certain of their whereabouts. Neither has the Ministry of Equality, where the Vice Ministry of Women has been vacant for a week, following the resignation of Diana Gómez, nor has the Colombian Institute of Family Welfare made a statement. These institutions are decisive in the fight against a scourge that is not only experienced in Medellín, but in other large cities such as Cartagena, Cúcuta or Bogotá.
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