Aged 37, a municipal agent was placed under judicial supervision pending his trial before the Lille Criminal Court on January 14, 2025. He will be tried for possession and distribution of child pornography images. He is also the subject of disciplinary measures. The town of Seclin filed a civil suit.
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He is 37 years old and has worked in the child and youth service in the town of Seclin for 20 years. On November 13, the municipal agent was arrested by the Lille judicial police. Placed in police custody, the man – who works at lunchtime, after-school time and during school holidays – is suspected by investigators of possessing and distributing child pornography images on the social network Telegram.
Nothing in the procedure, nothing in the facts gives cause for concern that he could have behaved or acted out on children in the city.
Jean-François Cadart, various right-wing mayor of Seclin
“There were no warning signs of anythingindicates the various right-wing mayor of the town. Everyone was amazed.” Jean-François Cadart specifies that nothing in the procedure indicates that sexual acts or behavior towards children were noted.
At the end of his police custody, the youth service agent was referred to the public prosecutor's office then placed under judicial supervision pending his trial, scheduled for January 14, 2025, so that investigators can continue their extraction and exploitation of electronic and digital media. “He is accused of possession, fixation or recording, habitual consultation and distribution of images of a child pornography nature by exchanging them with Internet users during chats”specifies the Lille public prosecutor’s office.
The town of Seclin filed a civil suit for damaging the town's image, and the mayor indicates that he will be present in court. Pending the court decision, the 37-year-old man is subject to disciplinary measures. “I have had confirmation that this gentleman is placed under judicial supervision prohibiting him from coming into contact with children. With this formalization, I take precautionary measures suspending the agent, explains Jean-François Cadart. Justice must do its job and when there is a conviction, I will revoke it.”
An arrest which is part of a vast raid carried out in several countries against a child crime network, on which several people exchanged files on the social network Telegram. The investigation, begun several months ago by OFMIN, the Minors Office of the national direction of the judicial police, led to the arrest of at least four people in France in November, including one in Finistère.
Read also ► “The pedophile sphere feels safe there”, a vast network dismantled, Telegram messaging once again called into question
According to the Brest prosecutor's office, questioned by our colleagues from AFP, “more than 10,000 child criminals, from 50 different countries”, were identified by investigators. They exchanged “more than 70,000 messages and 23,000 child abuse images” on these Telegram networks, many of the contents of which were from “personal production” users, describes the floor. Dozens of arrests could take place in the coming weeks, according to OFMIN.
