11-17-08 News Update
Greetings everyone,
On November 11, 2008 I received an anonymous telephone call followed up by an email containing the following narrative, which I thought I'd share with the forum membership.
This information dovetails perfectly with other information I had been receiving from various sources in the past several months, thus elevating it's legitimacy to a confidence level that I believe justified it's publication at this time.
Name:
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Languages:Eduardo Egidio Flores
Eduardo Feder, Nicolas Karsson
November 09, 1960
DNI 14.132.226
Argentino
15-3346-3721 and 15-3232-9531
Fraud, Larceny and Extortion
Edu70_7@hotmail.com
nicolas_karsson@yahoo.com.ar
Uneducated Spanish, minimal English
Click for larger view
I am writing to you about the "case" of Maria Blanca Nieve Valenzuela, whom you have written about in your web site.
Although I wish to remain anonymous, I do want to elicit your help. What you have written about her is somewhat unjustified, and of course that's understandable, since you couldn't have known what her life was like. But if you read what I have to say, you will see why.
For several years, Maria was completely dominated and exploited by her pimp Eduardo Egidio Flores
Additionally, he has recently adopted the identity of one of your apartment guests, [Name deleted] and is now using the e-mail address [Email address deleted]. I also have strong evidence that he is currently "friendly" (ie; "conning") another of your former apartment guests, [Name deleted].
[EDITOR's NOTE: The names provided were indeed guests who had rented apartments from me back in the height of the "Irina Era"]
Without ever having had his own job, Eduardo Flores was able to buy several motorcycles, laptop computers, digital cameras, flat screen televisions and even an apartment in Puerto Madero, where he lived quite comfortably until now. How did he manage all this? By forcing Maria and other young women to work as prostitutes and then by victimizing their clients.
Flores took all of Maria's money, controlled what she wore, what she ate, who she spoke to, where she went, even when she slept. He dictated all of her telephone conversations and Messenger chats. He controlled her email accounts and cell phones. He even took his showers with the bathroom door open so that he could monitor what she was doing.
He stays up all night scouring the internet, searching for women (and minors) in similar vulnerable situations. Investigators have found various advertisements Mr. Flores used in his efforts to find girls to work in his "privado", and you can see some of them here:
http://www.quebarato.com.ar/clasificados/busco-mujer-para-privado-puerto-madero__258685.html
and here:
http://www.avisos-gratuitos.com/clasificados/servicios/agencias-de-modelos.php?principio=30
They have also found his "contacts" list, and have discovered that some of his victims are as young as 11 years old! The list includes descriptions such as "nena de 11 años de rosario.", "13 años de moreno...22hs.puede verme", "16.años.de flores.linda chica", and "15.años ramos ojos verdes..el jueve". Nude photographs of some of them, taken in the bedroom of his own apartment, have also been entered into evidence. In addition, they have found several very threatening e-mails written by Flores to his potential victims when they reject his advances or try to distance themselves from him. There are copies of all of this.
Flores has also been known to hide in a closet in his privado, and take photographs and videotape of clients to later use against them. He often represents himself as a young girl in internet chat rooms and "dating" websites, looking for rich, and preferably foreign clients (one tell-tale sign is his consistent use of name_yearofbirth@hotmail.com).
Flores has four previous convictions on his record, including larceny and fraud (exp. 584-23985-91, exp. 584-5031-92, exp. 584-10026-94 and exp. 584-29218-98).
With Maria, whenever he was successful in setting up a meeting, he would pry her afterwards for information about the client, especially the foreigners. He wanted to know where they were staying, which room they were in, when they would be out, and when they would return. He even wanted to know what type of watch they wore. If he felt that she wasn't forthcoming enough with her information, sometimes he would force her to take up to six "Dormicum" sleeping pills and question her extensively while she was under the drug's effect. Usually, these clients wanted to see Maria again, and if the two went out on the town, very often they would return to the hotel to find that the room had been robbed of laptops, cameras, cash, etcetera. Sometimes the client's agendas or PDA's were stolen, too, which would later be used to extort and blackmail. Flores also defrauded several of them. Of course Maria knew it was him, but was too terrorized to say anything.
The first time Maria became pregnant, Flores hit her several times in the stomach to force a miscarriage. The second time, he and his associates forced her to have an abortion in a hotel. The procedure went wrong and she almost bled to death. Both times, Maria ended up in serious condition in hospital, and she has records of this.
Recently she discovered she was pregnant again, and she decided she would do whatever it took to prevent this man from killing another child. And so she sought the help of a human rights group she had read about after a conference on the illegal trata of women. Of course, they helped her.
In a highly dramatic operation, she managed to escape from Flores, though he chased her and her rescuers all the way into the juzgado. Realizing where he was, he ran outside and began to send threatening text messages, promising to beat Blanca as he had so many times before, and Maria showed it to the fiscal as soon as it arrived on her phone. Next he vowed to "destroy" her and the people who had helped her.
Since then he has menaced Maria and her rescuers relentlessly. He called them hundreds of times per day until they had to change their telephone number. He has sent countless threatening text messages, and has had threatening letters and packages delivered by courier to their home. The threats were so disturbing that the judge presiding over the case assigned them 24-hour police protection. He has similarly harrassed Maria's mother, her brother, her cousins and anybody else he can think of to call.
Really, I have nothing against what you do or how you make your living. It's all right with me, as long as people make their own decisions. I am only against opression and people enslaving other people. But Flores has made a career of exploiting and enslaving young girls, and of course he will continue, now with someone else. And of course he will follow his same modus operandi. He has been quite successful in his victimization of visiting foreigners, and he will surely try to continue to exploit your business and contacts, though obviously he will use a new name.
I write to you in hopes that at least you can update the information on your web page to reflect who is the real criminal (It is Flores, not Maria, who has quit working and is awaiting her baby). Perhaps you can make your clients aware of the danger of Flores and those like him. I don't wish to have this letter posted in the commentary section of your website, but please use the information to update your report if you like. I also provide to you some photographs (from his profile at netlog: http://es.netlog.com/m/profile/photos/nickname=edu70_7&photoID=17060519, which perhaps you can use to replace the photos of Maria. And if you can think of anyway to help in the apprehension, conviction and imprisonment of Eduardo Egidio Flores, it would be very much appreciated.
A friend.
Name:
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Accomplices:Maria "Blanca Nieve" Valenzuela
Irina, Snow White, Marylyn Moor
October 10, 1981
DNI 93650431
Paraguay
15-6021-9125 / 15-5038-8054
Fraud, Larceny and Extortion
marylynmoor@hotmail.com
marynymodelo20@hotmail.com
Age: 23 Height: 5'2" Weight: 100lbs
Blond / Redhead
Uneducated Spanish, minimal English
"Eduardo" (husband/pimp)
Click for larger view 
Click for larger view
Greetings Everyone,
Our dear Irina, a one-time favorite of several forum members, has apparently decided that a life of crime pays better than sex work. Her latest criminal act was a scheme wherein for several months she fostered a internet romance designed to lure a guy to Buenos Aires with the specific intent of setting him up to be completely ripped off and extorted, but the complete story of her criminal activities begins much earlier.
For the benefit of all forum members, some of whom are quite possibly currently in her sights, I have decided to go public with her contact information and the stories of her many activities.
I first met Irina a couple of years ago when she responded to a Clarin ad for "acompanantes". Once introduced to a core group of members, by word of mouth she quickly developed a steady clientele. Unfortunately, it appears that after a time she decided that was more lucrative to rip off her clients than to provide honest services. No doubt she was motivated in this direction by the number of easy marks she met who apparently couldn't stop themselves from confessing that they were in love with her and offering her the proverbial moon.
The first confirmed incident of criminal behavior was about a year ago. Irina contacted a forum member (who we will call "Mark1") who rents apartments here in BA, and advised him that she had a boyfriend who needed to rent an apartment for a couple of days. She later introduced Mark1 to "Eduardo", a rather sleazy looking Argentino, who visited one of Mark1's apartments, which was conveniently adjacent to Mark1's own apartment. "Eduardo" made an arrangement to occupy the apartment immediately. Claiming that he didn't have the cash for the rent at that time, Mark1 agreed to allow "Eduardo" to pay him the following day. Unfortunately, when Mark1 returned to his own apartment the next afternoon, he discovered that "Eduardo" had apparently succeeded in climbing into his own apartment via the adjacent balcony and stole a number of items of value, including Mark1's laptop. Mark1 was justifiably incensed, but apparently decided not to pursue the matter with the police in spite of his excellent Spanish skills.
Within a few weeks of this incident, Capt. Dave and I began receiving emails and telephone calls from Irina advising us that she had an American boyfriend who was interested in staying at the Mansion. Of course, having heard Mark1's story, we decided to respond by telling Irina that she needed to have her American boyfriend call or email us directly, the idea being that we could tell immediately if the guy was actually an American. Besides, if he was American, why did he need Irina to make a reservation for him? She persisted for several weeks, but we were resolute, and she thus decided to adopt a new approach.
Shortly thereafter, Irina succeeded in having the good luck to have made an appointment with a guy who was staying at the Mansion. However, given our suspicions, her visits were very closely monitored and strictly limited to one hour sessions. Nevertheless, she persisted in her attempts to stay longer, including telling our guest "I love you" on numerous occasions. This phrase, probably the only English she knows, has apparently been utilized by her in the past with excellent results. Fortunately, our guest was too experienced to fall for that trap, and it soon became obvious by her aggressive moves that she was trying to "play" him, and therefor her days of visiting the Mansion were over. In hindsight, it seems apparent that she was casing the Mansion for its burglary potential.
A couple of weeks later I received a telephone call from Irina wherein she advised me that she had, guess what, a boyfriend who wanted to rent my apartment. I advised her to have her "boyfriend" call me and make the appointment himself. A couple of days later I received a telephone call from "Raul" who explained his poor English by telling me that he was Spanish, and that he saw on the Forum that I had a 3 day vacancy in my apartment the following week which he was interested in renting. During the conversation he revealed that he lived in BA, so of course I asked him why he needed a temporary apartment rental if he lived here. He explained that he was expecting relatives in town that weekend, that they were going to stay in his apartment, and that he need my apartment for himself. I was skeptical, but I agreed to reserve the apartment for those dates. I got his work and cellphone number, and very specifically told him that he was going to need to give me a credit card as a security deposit to rent the apartment. I didn't hear anything back from him until just a couple of days before he was to occupy the apartment, when he called me to confirm the reservation. I again told him that he would need to provide a credit card, and I sensed that he was just "yessing" me off.
The whole thing was starting to smell, so I asked my girlfriend to call him and speak to him directly in Castellano to ascertain more information. She first called his work number, and no one there had heard of him, so she called his cellphone and spoke to him directly. In the course of the conversation, she questioned him very directly, and his answers quickly went from polite to rude, and interestingly enough, from fake European Spanish, to fake educated Castellano, to genuine uneducated Castellano. Soon thereafter he declared that he'd changed his mind, that he didn't want the apartment, and then abruptly hung up.
My girlfriend concluded from his voice and expressions that it was the same guy who had contacted her a few months earlier looking for "Irina", having gotten my girlfriend's telephone number off the ArgentinaPrivate website. At that time he convinced her to meet him in a coffee shop, during which he declared that he was Irina's husband, that she had run away from home, and that he was looking for her to be reunited with her. He even showed my girlfriend photos of him and Irina in what appeared to be a wedding. His goal at that time was to enlist my girlfriend's assistance to help him find Irina, ostensibly by having my girlfriend call Irina and schedule an appointment for her with "a client" in a hotel where he would then surprise her. Needless to say, my girlfriend declined his offer. Later, in comparing notes with Mark1, this was apparently the same "Eduardo" that ripped off his apartment.
In March, a month after "Raul" tried to rent my apartment, Irina began sending me emails insisting that I remove all of her photos from my website, claiming in her emails that if I didn't comply she was going to call Interpol and a number of local television stations and tell them about ArgentinaPrivate. I ignored her emails, but I'm going to provide a copy one of them here for the benefit of any of you who may be inadvertently corresponding with her as the email is representative of her distinctive, uneducated writing style.
HOLA..JACKSON....... "SOY .... IRINA"....My guess is that Irina (probably at the urging of her boyfriend/pimp "Eduardo") had decided to apply for a visa to visit the USA, and that she is concerned that the presence of her photos on AP would diminish her chances. As I personally know the guy at the American Embassy who's job it is to scour the escort websites looking to photos of visa applicants, her fears are probably justified.
TE ESCRIBO PARA COMUNICARTE QUE RETIRES MIS FOTOS DE TU PAGINA..TENES TIEMPO HASTA EL DIA 27 DE MARZO ...SI NO RETIRASTES TODAS MIS FOTOS TE VERAS COMPROMETIDO CON LA POLICIA DE INTERPOL..AVERIGUARAN TODOS TUS ANTECENDENTES Y TU PASADO EN ..EE.UU...
TENGO FOTOS DE TU PAGINA DESDE EL "NUMERO UNO AL NUMERO 90"..EN DONDE HAY NI?OS EN ESA PAGINA DONDE TENES FOTOS DE PORNOGRAFIA DE PERSONAS ADULTAS..CREO QUE EN ESTE TEMA YA TENDRAS QUE EXPLICARLE A INTERPOL Y AL JUEZ Y A LOS CANALES DE TELEVION ..CANAL9..AMERICA 2..CANAL.13...CANAL 11...YO LE DARE LA CLAVE PARA QUE ENTREN A TU PAGINA .SE QUE MUCHO NO TE INTERESA LA PAGINA ,YA QUE DE ESE POCO DINERO NO VIVIS .TU TIENES OTROS INGRESOS ECONOMICOS ..QUE TENDRAS QUE EXPLICARSELO A LA POLICIA DE INTERPOL...YO SOLO QUIERO QUE SAQUES MIS FOTOS O SE TE COMPLICDA LA VIDA QUE LLEVAS AQUI EN BUENOS AIRES..COMPRENDES .??SOLO HASTA EL LUNES 27 ESPERO ENTRAR A LA PAGINA Y NO VER MIS FOTOS...YO ME AVERIGUE MUCHAS COSAS TUYAS DE TU PASADO...SI QUERES VIVIR TRANQUILO EN BUENOS AIRES Y ARGENTINA SACA TODAS MIS FOTOS..OK....
And finally, the story of her latest exploits.
A few days ago I received a telephone call from an American I will call Mark2, who visits BA several times a year and who has rented my apartment in the past. He began to tell me of his recent experience, but as I gleaned an understanding of its magnitude, I invited him to come over to my house to converse in person. He arrived shortly thereafter, and as we sat in the living room he relayed his story.
It seems that Mark2 had met Irina several months earlier during his last visit to BA. At the time they exchanged email addresses, and upon his return to the USA they began to correspond regularly. My friend had recently gotten divorced from a 20 year marriage, and was, well, vulnerable, a situation that Irina exploited to its maximum as she wrote all the right things. In the ensuing months Irina had convinced Mark2, and he had convinced himself, that they were in love. They even went so far as to make plans to get married and for Irina to move to the USA with Mark2.
Finally, in early April, Mark2 decided to return to BA. Everything was planned: They were going to spend a week together in Buenos Aires and finalize their plans for getting married and returning to the USA together. Irina told Mark2 that she didn't want him to pay her any money, that she wanted to be with him only "for love". If that isn't a red flag, I don't know what is.
Anyway, Mark2 had planned to stay at a hotel in the Microcenter, but Irina balked, saying that the hotel he suggested was "too expensive". She instead suggested a moderately priced hotel she knew in Belgrano. Mark2 agreed, and he sent her the money via Western Union to pay the hotel rent and secure the reservation. Again at Irina's insistence, the plan was that she would check into the room first and be waiting there for his arrival.
On the day of his arrival, Irina was waiting in the hotel room as planned. At Irina's urging, Mark2 had brought both his video and digital cameras, promising to give him lots of opportunities to use both. It doesn't take any imagination to guess how they spent that 1st day together, but the festivities included, at Irina's insistence, video tape and photographs taken by her of Mark2 in somewhat compromising dominatrix positions. Hey, everybody has their thing.
One thing that struck Mark2 when he arrived at the hotel was that Irina, who had always pleaded complete poverty, showed him her new, top-of-the-line Ipod, which she called an "e-po", and which she didn't have the slightest idea how to operate. One can only imagine how such a poor girl managed to acquire an $800 USD Ipod.
On the evening of the second day, at Irina's insistence, they left the hotel to attend a Tango show. After several hours (a predictable time given that they were at a show) they returned to the hotel room to discover that SOMEONE HAD ENTERED THE ROOM AND CLEANED OUT EVERYTHING, including his cash, his credit cards, his video and digital cameras, the video tapes, his laptop computer and everything else of value. They even went so far as to pry the hotel safe off the wall, leaving their crude tools behind on the floor. In fact, the thief or thieves were so comfortable about their timing that they apparently took a break during their activities, as evidenced by the half-eaten apple left on the hotel room table. Needless to say, Mark2 was understandably dismayed, while Irina played the role of the innocent bystander.
Mark2 called the police, who arrived shortly thereafter. There was no sign of forced entry, whoever committed the robbery had the key to hotel room's door. The police questioned Mark2 and Irina in separate rooms, during which Mark2 suggested to the police that he suspected that Irina might be involved. After further questioning, Mark2 acknowledged that he had met Irina as a prostitute, whereupon the police advised him that prostitution was illegal in Argentina, and that he would be better served by not pressing forward with an investigation that might incriminate him in illegal activities.
What an easy way to keep this one off their police blotter!
Anyway, Mark2 declined to make a report, and the police left. Shortly thereafter, Irina advised Mark2 that she had to leave to attend "modeling school", with lots of "I love you"'s and promises to return soon, never once stepping out of character. Modeling school? Ha,ha,ha! First, she needs to go to dental school. Anyway, I'm telling you, this chica is pathological.
The next day Mark2 received an email at the same address that he had used to correspond with Irina, said email advising him that the sender had his video and digital cameras, and his laptop computer, and further advising him that unless Mark2 agreed to pay them $50,000 USD, the sender would send compromising photos of him to every email address in his computer. The email included several of the photos of Mark2 taken by Irina just the day before. Needless to say, Mark2 was quite shaken at the prospect of having all of his relatives and business clients receive these photos. That's when he called me.
My advice was direct: You can't give in to the blackmail because they'll never stop. If you pay, then every time they need more money they'll send another email. On the other hand, if you tell them that you're not going to give them a penny, then suddenly the prospect of actually sending the damaging emails becomes simply an unpaid chore which they'll quickly tire of. I also suggested that instead of being intimidated by the police, that he should instead go down to the central office and make a formal complaint. Officially, I'm sure that the Argentina government takes a dim view on crimes against tourists, and perhaps he could find a sympathetic investigator. I reminded him that he also needed to consider his fellow travelers, and that criminals like Irina and "Eduardo" could continue to perpetrate these sort of crimes with impunity because the victims, mostly traveling men, mostly married, could always be counted on to keep their silence. I also suggested that it was even possible that the police had already received reports of these two, and that he might find that his cooperation would further an already ongoing investigation. We even discussed the possibility of a sting operation wherein Mark2, in cooperation with the police, would agree to pay a more realistic ransom for his laptop with the intention of luring the perpetrators to a meeting for the exchange. Believe me, for 5K these idiots would have agreed to meet him in front of the police station. Finally, I suggested to him that there was no reason for him to admit anything about the prostitution angle: His story was that he met Irina on his last visit through a mutual friend, and that he thought that they were in a budding romance.
He agreed, and he even called a mutual friend here in BA who spoke perfect Spanish, and who agreed to accompany him to the police office to help him file his complaint.
The next day Mark2 changed his mind. Two days later he changed his ticket and caught a flight home.
Incredibly enough, the day after I met with Mark2, Irina called me on my cellphone and we conversed for about 20 minutes. She told me that she wanted her photos removed from the site, and I told her that I wasn't going to remove them because I "didn't fucking want to". She told me that she was going to call Interpol, and I told her "Okay, you call Interpol, give them my number, and have them call me". She then told me that she was going to call all of the local television stations, and I told her that all publicity was good publicity, and that she would be doing me a favor. She then told me that she was going to take me to court, and I reminded her that I was a rich, educated, American with permanent residency status, that she was a poor, uneducated Paraguayan who had over-stayed her visa, and that I wasn't the slightest bit worried that she was going to beat me in any Argentine court. Finally, she told me that there were photos of children on ArgentinaPrivate that would surely get me in trouble. Upon further questioning, it turns out that the photos she was referring to were the WSG Charity comedor photos wherein we were delivering the toys from the Annual Christmas Toy Drive. At this point I was ROTFLMAO. I told her "Sure honey, bring it on." She hung up.
The peculiar thing about the conversation was the way she hesitated before every response, and in fact I could vaguely hear somebody in the background giving her instructions on what to say. My guess was that her pimp/boyfriend "Eduardo" was listening in on the conversation and giving her instructions on what to say. Given how intellectually stupid this actually chica is, it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest to learn that "Eduardo" is the one pulling her puppet strings and orchestrating everything she does.
Anyway, here's my point: IMHO, these punk criminals and their puta accomplices can't really do a fucking thing except spout hollow threats to the effect that they'll "call your wife" or "call the police" or "call the media" and threaten you with comments like "you'll be in a lot of trouble because prostitution is illegal in Argentina", etc. It's all fucking bullshit! To anyone who might find themselves in this sort of situation, I say laugh in their face and tell them to "Fuck off".
Unfortunately, it would appear that far too many guys hear these threats and launch into a panic mode.
With all due respect, I am personally tired of hearing these stories, and I've heard several others besides the ones I've described herein. In addition, I'm tired of these victims who decide that it's simply easier to get back on a plane and fly home with their tails tucked between their legs than to step up and fight back.
Come on guys, show some balls!
Okay, so let's hear your comments.
Thanks,
Jackson
The Argentine Federal Police have established a special Tourist Police Unit to receive complaints and investigate crimes against tourists. In the year from January 2004 to January 2005, the Federal Police took action in 1,083 cases involving tourists, of which 162 involved American citizens.
The Tourist Police Unit has a toll-free number, 0800-999-5000, for responding to tourist calls 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
