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@ -11,27 +11,32 @@ relations:
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with: "[[Jean-Michel Nihoul]]"
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start: 1975
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end: 1983
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fn: 4
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fn: 2
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- type: founded
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with: "[[Cadreco]]"
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start: 1985
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fn: 2
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fn: 1
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created: 2026-04-28
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updated: 2026-09-22
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updated: 2026-10-09
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---
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Annie Bouty was a Brussels lawyer specializing in the law on foreigners and from 1975 to 1983 the companion of [[Jean-Michel Nihoul]], with whom she had a son, Jean-Michel, and a daughter, Gentiane; she was later struck off the bar.[^2][^4] Having just left the bar, she founded with a Mr. Flier in 1985 a legal-aid association, Cadreco, in whose name Nihoul approached the Belgian Justice Department on behalf of its clients; it handled about 300 files before going into liquidation in 1987. In November 1985 she set up two subsidiaries of Cadreco in Lagos, Nigeria, Law and Cadreco Ltd Commercial Company, dealing in import and export, the management of football players and legal help for Nigerians wishing to emigrate to Belgium. On September 20, 1989, the Brussels Court of Appeal sentenced her to two years' imprisonment, suspended, for breach of trust and violation of professional secrecy committed while she was still a lawyer. She and Flier were then prosecuted for fraud and fraudulent insolvency; Flier's case was dismissed, and on February 21, 1997, the Court of Appeal sentenced Bouty, who had obtained papers for foreigners in irregular situations, to two months.[^2]
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Annie Bouty was a Brussels lawyer specializing in the law on foreigners and from 1975 to 1983 the companion of [[Jean-Michel Nihoul]], with whom she had a son, Jean-Michel, and a daughter, Gentiane; she was later struck off the bar.[^1][^2] Having just left the bar, she founded with a Mr. Flier in 1985 a legal-aid association, Cadreco, in whose name Nihoul approached the Belgian Justice Department on behalf of its clients; it handled about 300 files before going into liquidation in 1987. In November 1985 she set up two subsidiaries of Cadreco in Lagos, Nigeria, Law and Cadreco Ltd Commercial Company, dealing in import and export, the management of football players and legal help for Nigerians wishing to emigrate to Belgium. On September 20, 1989, the Brussels Court of Appeal sentenced her to two years' imprisonment, suspended, for breach of trust and violation of professional secrecy committed while she was still a lawyer. She and Flier were then prosecuted for fraud and fraudulent insolvency; Flier's case was dismissed, and on February 21, 1997, the Court of Appeal sentenced Bouty, who had obtained papers for foreigners in irregular situations, to two months.[^1]
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The parliamentary commission of inquiry described an episode in which Nihoul telephoned a gendarmerie officer, at Bouty's instigation according to her own statement in a police report of October 2, 1989, about a gendarme investigating Cadreco; she later claimed that the gendarme had been transferred because of her, which the commission found false but which she used as a threat against the gendarmes questioning her. The commission called the episode illustrative of "the arrogance and the nerve" of Nihoul and Bouty at the time and of how they turned their illegal interventions to account, and found in the officer's response a sign of the erosion of standards. After her suspension from the bar, she often called on the same lawyers as Nihoul.[^2]
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The parliamentary commission of inquiry described an episode in which Nihoul telephoned a gendarmerie officer, at Bouty's instigation according to her own statement in a police report of October 2, 1989, about a gendarme investigating Cadreco; she later claimed that the gendarme had been transferred because of her, which the commission found false but which she used as a threat against the gendarmes questioning her. The commission called the episode illustrative of "the arrogance and the nerve" of Nihoul and Bouty at the time and of how they turned their illegal interventions to account, and found in the officer's response a sign of the erosion of standards. After her suspension from the bar, she often called on the same lawyers as Nihoul.[^1]
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Bouty was detained in 1996 in the Dutroux investigation.[^1] She was not among the four defendants tried at Arlon in 2004, [[Marc Dutroux]], [[Michelle Martin]], [[Michel Lelievre]] and Nihoul.[^3] On May 3, 2004, she testified for nearly two hours about her life with Nihoul, insisting that he had never taken her to orgies and that she could not imagine he would have kept quiet about pedophilia had he known of it.[^4]
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Bouty was detained in 1996 in the Dutroux investigation.[^3] She was not among the four defendants tried at Arlon in 2004, [[Marc Dutroux]], [[Michelle Martin]], [[Michel Lelievre]] and Nihoul.[^4] On May 3, 2004, she testified for nearly two hours about her life with Nihoul, insisting that he had never taken her to orgies and that she could not imagine he would have kept quiet about pedophilia had he known of it.[^2]
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### Allegations
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In the [[X-Dossier]], compiled under [[Jean-Marc Connerotte]] and [[Michel Bourlet]], [[Regina Louf]] accused Bouty of taking part in sadomasochistic events. The writer S. Dovey wrote that her practice overlapped with the circles of [[Jean-Paul Dumont]] and the Lippens family and handled matters for Nihoul's companies, including [[Achats Services Commerces|ASCO]], and that her statements described Nihoul's specifications for victims, the filming of parties for blackmail, his connections to [[Paul Vanden Boeynants]] and the Lippens family, and links to [[CRIES]] and [[UNICEF]] through Dumont.[^1]
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In the [[X-Dossier]], compiled under [[Jean-Marc Connerotte]] and [[Michel Bourlet]], [[Regina Louf]] accused Bouty of taking part in sadomasochistic events. The writer S. Dovey wrote that her practice overlapped with the circles of [[Jean-Paul Dumont]] and the Lippens family and handled matters for Nihoul's companies, including [[Achats Services Commerces|ASCO]], and that her statements described Nihoul's specifications for victims, the filming of parties for blackmail, his connections to [[Paul Vanden Boeynants]] and the Lippens family, and links to [[CRIES]] and [[UNICEF]] through Dumont.[^3]
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### The Van Hees Allegation
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The parliamentary commission's complementary report of February 16, 1998 records that an anonymous witness had associated Jean-Michel Nihoul and "A. Bouty" with an unsolved murder in the Brussels region. The commission, finding that the inquiry into that murder had been reopened, charged its councillor-investigator [[Etienne Marique]] with inquiring whether protection mechanisms had operated in the case for Nihoul and Marc Dutroux.[^5]
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### Footnotes
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[^1]: Dovey, S. *Eye of the Chickenhawk.* Thehotstar, 2023. Its statements that Bouty was convicted in 2004 of kidnapping and manslaughter, sentenced to 30 years, admitted knowing of the captives in Dutroux's cellar and was released in 2012 are contradicted by the trial record, in which she was a witness, not a defendant; several of these details correspond to Michelle Martin. Sole source for the passages so cited.
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[^2]: Chambre des Représentants de Belgique. *Enquête parlementaire sur la manière dont l'enquête, dans ses volets policiers et judiciaires, a été menée dans l'affaire Dutroux-Nihoul et consorts,* rapport complémentaire, Doc. 713/8-96/97, February 16, 1998, chapter on Nihoul's networks; translated from the French. https://www.dekamer.be/kvvcr/pdf_sections/comm/dutroux/49K0713008.pdf
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[^3]: "Notorious child rapist-murderer convicted." NBC News and Associated Press, June 17, 2004. https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna5233011 ; "Nihoul acquitté pour les enlèvements." *La Dernière Heure,* June 17, 2004. https://www.dhnet.be/actu/faits/2004/06/17/nihoul-acquitte-pour-les-enlevements-MF73NPYQVBC25I2Y6P54BXIQDA/
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[^4]: Hovine, Annick. "Annie Bouty, ex-compagne de Nihoul, sort ses griffes." *La Libre Belgique,* May 3, 2004; translated from the French. https://www.lalibre.be/belgique/2004/05/03/annie-bouty-ex-compagne-de-nihoul-sort-ses-griffes-VKDQW4MOE5DTLGWMVOWZKUWGYI/
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[^1]: Chambre des Représentants de Belgique. *Enquête parlementaire sur la manière dont l'enquête, dans ses volets policiers et judiciaires, a été menée dans l'affaire Dutroux-Nihoul et consorts,* rapport complémentaire, Doc. 713/8-96/97, February 16, 1998, chapter on Nihoul's networks; translated from the French. https://www.dekamer.be/kvvcr/pdf_sections/comm/dutroux/49K0713008.pdf
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[^2]: Hovine, Annick. "Annie Bouty, ex-compagne de Nihoul, sort ses griffes." *La Libre Belgique,* May 3, 2004; translated from the French. https://www.lalibre.be/belgique/2004/05/03/annie-bouty-ex-compagne-de-nihoul-sort-ses-griffes-VKDQW4MOE5DTLGWMVOWZKUWGYI/
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[^3]: Dovey, S. *Eye of the Chickenhawk.* Thehotstar, 2023. Its statements that Bouty was convicted in 2004 of kidnapping and manslaughter, sentenced to 30 years, admitted knowing of the captives in Dutroux's cellar and was released in 2012 are contradicted by the trial record, in which she was a witness, not a defendant; several of these details correspond to Michelle Martin.
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[^4]: "Notorious child rapist-murderer convicted." NBC News and Associated Press, June 17, 2004. https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna5233011 ; "Nihoul acquitté pour les enlèvements." *La Dernière Heure,* June 17, 2004. https://www.dhnet.be/actu/faits/2004/06/17/nihoul-acquitte-pour-les-enlevements-MF73NPYQVBC25I2Y6P54BXIQDA/
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[^5]: Chambre des Représentants de Belgique. Enquête parlementaire sur la manière dont l'enquête, dans ses volets policiers et judiciaires, a été menée dans l'affaire Dutroux-Nihoul et consorts, rapport complémentaire, Doc. 713/8-96/97, February 16, 1998, chapter V, p. 150; translated from the French. https://www.dekamer.be/FLWB/PDF/49/0713/49K0713008.pdf
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@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ tags:
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summary: "Baron Benoit de Bonvoisin served as a director of Societe Generale de Banque (also referred to as 'Society General'), which was described as 'the largest financial firm in the country' (Belgium)."
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born: 1939-03-14
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location: "Etterbeek, Brussels, Belgium"
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updated: 2026-10-09
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---
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Baron Benoit de Bonvoisin served as a director of [[Societe Generale de Banque]] (also referred to as "Society General"), which was described as "the largest financial firm in the country" ([[Belgium]]). This banking institution was controlled by "a fraternity of families who provided most of the funding for CSP political campaigns." The CSP (Parti Social Chretien/[[Christian Social Party]]) was described as a political faction that "at its fringes aligned with Belgium's neofascist movement and [[Operation Gladio]]." Operation Gladio was characterized as "a post-WW2 effort by NATO bloc spy agencies to tamper the dialectic swing away from fascism towards left-leaning political movements."[^1]
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@ -18,9 +19,7 @@ The alignment with Operation Gladio placed Baron de Bonvoisin within a network o
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Baron Benoit de Bonvoisin was identified in the [[X-Dossier]] as one of "powerful figures in a network of child abusers linked to [[Jean-Michel Nihoul]]." The X-Dossier investigation revealed multiple witnesses who named him as part of this network, which allegedly operated across Belgium's elite social circles. These allegations placed de Bonvoisin at the center of one of Belgium's most controversial investigations, connecting his aristocratic status and political influence to systematic child abuse and exploitation.[^1]
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Witness [[Regina Louf]] provided detailed testimony about de Bonvoisin's participation in "high society sadomasochist child sex parties around Belgium." These parties were held at "hotel-villa's surrounding the Royal Zoute golf club." X2 claimed to have attended these parties as the mistress of a magistrate named [[Karel Maasdam]] during the 1980s, providing firsthand accounts of the aristocratic and professional figures who participated in these organized abuse events. The location near the prestigious Royal Zoute golf club suggests that these activities occurred within Belgium's most exclusive social circles, leveraging the privacy and prestige of elite venues to conceal criminal behavior.[^2]
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The Mirano club testimony provided even more specific details about de Bonvoisin's alleged activities. In witness X2's detailed account of orgies at the [[Mirano nightclub]], "BONVOISIN" was listed among those present. The testimony described extreme sexual activities involving minors aged 12-15, with "about ten children - 25-30 adults including 5-6 women aged 50 and 3-4 girls aged 18-20." The testimony specifically stated that "DE BONVOISIN only practices sodomy while being sodomized himself and so on in the chain (4-5 men)." This level of detail, combined with the specific naming of participants, formed the basis of the allegations that would later become central to the X-Dossier investigation and its claims about organized child abuse networks operating within Belgium's elite.[^3]
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Witness [[Regina Louf]] provided detailed testimony about de Bonvoisin's participation in "high society sadomasochist child sex parties around Belgium." These parties were held at "hotel-villa's surrounding the Royal Zoute golf club." The witness designated X2 gave statements to investigators in 1996 and 1997 describing parties in Knokke attended by prominent figures.[^2][^3]
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### Network Connections and Legal Implications
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@ -34,4 +33,4 @@ The X-Dossier investigation, while controversial, represented one of the most co
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[^1]: Dovey, S. (2023). Eye of the Chickenhawk. United States: Thehotstar.
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[^2]: 150.567 04/03/97, X-Dossier summary, 1235 pages, 2005, published by Wikileaks in 2009
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[^3]: 118.384 13/12/96 AUDITION of X2, X-Dossier summary, 1235 pages, 2005, published by Wikileaks in 2009
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[^3]: "Dutroux case and X-Dossier victim-witnesses," crimesandconsequences.com, updated 2021 (PV 116.799 and PV 117.535 as excerpted there). https://crimesandconsequences.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/dutroux-case-and-x-dossier-victim-witnesses.pdf
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- Person
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- Belgium
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summary: "Carine Dellaert was a Belgian woman whose 1983 death was investigated as part of the X-Dossier."
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updated: 2026-10-09
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---
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Carine Dellaert was a Belgian woman whose 1983 death was investigated as part of the [[X-Dossier]]. X1 ([[Regina Louf]]) described witnessing Dellaert's death at one of [[Jean-Michel Nihoul]]'s parties, testifying that Dellaert had given birth during a party and was subsequently murdered. An autopsy of Dellaert's remains confirmed evidence of childbirth, corroborating aspects of X1's testimony with physical evidence unavailable to the public.[^1]
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Carine Dellaert was a Belgian woman whose 1983 death was investigated as part of the [[X-Dossier]]. X1 ([[Regina Louf]]) described witnessing Dellaert's death at one of [[Jean-Michel Nihoul]]'s parties, testifying that Dellaert had given birth during a party and was subsequently murdered. According to S. Dovey, an autopsy of Dellaert's remains confirmed evidence of childbirth, corroborating aspects of X1's testimony with physical evidence unavailable to the public.[^1]
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A Zembla programme broadcast on March 11, 2004 stated in its programme description that the Dellaert and [[Christine Van Hees]] inquiries were reopened on the basis of X1's statements and that X1 had "daderkennis" (knowledge of the perpetrators) in both cases. The description states that the Belgian gendarmerie had been able to confirm much of what she said and that the investigators of the time described growing internal obstruction from above.[^2]
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### Footnotes
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[^1]: Dovey, S. (2023). *Eye of the Chickenhawk*. United States: Thehotstar.
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[^1]: Dovey, S. (2023). *Eye of the Chickenhawk*. United States: Thehotstar.
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[^2]: BNNVARA Zembla. "De X-dossiers, deel I," broadcast March 11, 2004; programme description in Dutch, translated. https://www.bnnvara.nl/zembla/artikelen/de-x-dossiers-deel-i
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@ -3,17 +3,20 @@ category: "Criminals & Offenders"
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tags:
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- Person
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- OrganizedCrime
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summary: "Chris Denning was a former BBC Radio One DJ who was good friends with Jimmy Savile and, according to Czech police, head of an international pedophile network running a child porn operation from his Prague apartment."
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summary: "Chris Denning was a former BBC Radio One DJ, a friend of Jimmy Savile and, according to Czech police, head of an international pedophile network running a child porn operation from his Prague apartment."
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born: 1941-05-10
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died: 2022-06-24
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location: "Hayes, Middlesex, England"
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updated: 2026-10-09
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---
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Chris Denning was a former BBC Radio One DJ who was good friends with [[Jimmy Savile]] and, according to Czech police, head of an international pedophile network running a child porn operation from his Prague apartment. The investigation into Denning served as the genesis to ongoing probes into a suspected child abuse ring linked to the [[BBC]], which eventually culminated in the infamous [[Operation Yewtree]] investigation after Jimmy Savile's death.[^1]
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Denning had been arrested in November 1997 based on information Czech police received from Scotland Yard after [[Warwick Spinks]] went into exile there. Denning was arrested by detectives investigating an international child pornography ring. Police alleged he was the leader of the child sex ring and said he was arrested after cocaine had been fed to young boys in preparation for filming a pornographic video. The arrest came after a two-month surveillance operation in which Scotland Yard supplied vital information about Denning's movements to colleagues on the continent. Denning, who had a flat in Prague and ran a music and video production company from his home in Britain, had been jailed for 10 weeks in February 1996 for possessing child pornography.[^1]
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S. Dovey wrote that Denning was arrested in November 1997 on information Czech police received from Scotland Yard after [[Warwick Spinks]] went into exile in Prague. Denning was arrested by detectives investigating an international child pornography ring. Police alleged he was the leader of the child sex ring and said he was arrested after cocaine had been fed to young boys in preparation for filming a pornographic video. The arrest came after a two-month surveillance operation in which Scotland Yard supplied vital information about Denning's movements to colleagues on the continent. Denning, who had a flat in Prague and ran a music and video production company from his home in Britain, had been jailed for 10 weeks in February 1996 for possessing child pornography.[^1]
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Denning and three others, two Frenchmen and an American, were charged with hooking boys as young as seven on cocaine to produce pornography they distributed globally online. A week after Denning's arrest, British glam rock artist [[Gary Glitter]], whose career Denning helped catapult to the Top of the Pops in the 1970s, was arrested by British authorities after child pornography was discovered on a computer he had taken into a repair store. Glitter had downloaded thousands of these images from specially encrypted members-only webservers, presumably one of which had been run by his old pal Chris Denning, who was running around with Warwick Spinks in Prague producing child pornography on the harder end of the scale.[^1]
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The Guardian reported on July 31, 1998 that Denning, aged 57, was in Pankrac prison in Prague awaiting trial; the same article reported that Warwick Spinks, who had broken his parole in Britain, was running an accommodation agency for foreign visitors in the city.[^2] The [[Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre]] said Spinks breached his licence conditions in 1997, was recalled to prison and went missing.[^3]
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Denning and three others, two Frenchmen and an American, were charged with hooking boys as young as seven on cocaine to produce pornography they distributed globally online. A week after Denning's arrest, British glam rock artist [[Gary Glitter]], whose career Denning helped catapult to the Top of the Pops in the 1970s, was arrested by British authorities after child pornography was discovered on a computer he had taken into a repair store. Glitter had downloaded thousands of these images from specially encrypted members-only webservers. S. Dovey wrote that one of these had presumably been run by Denning, who he wrote was running around with Warwick Spinks in Prague producing child pornography on the harder end of the scale.[^1]
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### Trial and Conviction
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The investigation into King and Denning in the early 2000s led to another, called [[Operation Arundel]], into a suspected pedophile ring of BBC celebrities in the 70s and 80s who allegedly procured boys and girls from an underage nightclub called the [[Walton Hop Disco]]. This investigation led to the arrest of another BBC personality in 2003, but the charges against them were subsequently dropped. One suspect in that investigation who was never arrested or charged had been a good friend and colleague of both Denning and King, BBC Radio One DJ Jimmy Savile. Nothing came of this though. The case was closed and forgotten about for nearly a decade.[^1]
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The arrest of Chris Denning followed in June 2013 under [[Operation Yewtree]], and he was convicted of historic child sexual abuse against 24 boys, one of whom Denning allegedly raped at Jimmy Savile's house. His conviction was part of the broader investigation into the organized pedophile network operating at the BBC that had been exposed through the Operation Yewtree investigation.[^1]
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The arrest of Chris Denning followed in June 2013 under Operation Yewtree, and he was convicted of historic child sexual abuse against 24 boys, one of whom Denning allegedly raped at Jimmy Savile's house. His conviction was part of the broader investigation into the organized pedophile network operating at the BBC that had been exposed through the Operation Yewtree investigation.[^1]
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### Footnotes
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[^1]: Dovey, S. (2023). Eye of the Chickenhawk. United States: Thehotstar.
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[^1]: Dovey, S. (2023). Eye of the Chickenhawk. United States: Thehotstar.
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[^2]: Kate Connolly and Owen Bowcott, "Fugitive Briton linked to Dutch child porn hits at 'witch-hunt' from Prague refuge," The Guardian, July 31, 1998, page 15.
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[^3]: Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre, "Child sexual offender who went on the run for 15 years is now back behind bars," press release, November 16, 2012, Wayback Machine capture of January 30, 2013, https://web.archive.org/web/20130130112106/http://ceop.police.uk/Media-Centre/Press-releases/2012/
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@ -6,25 +6,107 @@ tags:
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- ChildExploitation
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- CSAM
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- FederalCase
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- EasternDistrictOfNewYork
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- California
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- USA
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created: 2026-05-22
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updated: 2026-05-22
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summary: "David Brilhante, aliases 'Knight' and 'CS:GO,' was a San Diego, California leader of Greggy's Cult charged in December 2025 in the Eastern District of New York with engaging in a child exploitation enterprise alongside four co-defendants."
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aliases:
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- "David Brilhante"
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- "Brilhante"
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summary: "David Brilhante, aliases 'Knight' and 'CS:GO,' is a San Diego defendant in the Eastern District of New York Greggy's Cult case, charged in Counts One through Three and released on a $1,000,000 secured bond."
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born: 1997
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location: "San Diego, California"
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relations:
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- type: member_of
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with: "[[Greggy's Cult]]"
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role: "alleged member"
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start: 2020-01
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end: 2021-01
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fn: 3
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- type: prosecuted
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with: "[[Eastern District of New York]]"
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reverse: true
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start: 2025-11-18
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fn: 2
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created: 2026-05-22
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updated: 2026-10-09
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---
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[[David Brilhante]], aliases "Knight" and "CS:GO," is a resident of [[San Diego, California]] and a named leader of [[Greggy's Cult]] (also called the Cult of Greg), the online child exploitation network that operated on [[Discord]] from approximately January 2020 through January 2021. He was born approximately 1997 and was 28 at the time of his December 2025 indictment.
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[[David Brilhante]], charged under the aliases "Knight" and "CS:GO," is a [[San Diego, California]] man named in an [[Eastern District of New York]] indictment of six defendants, five of whom the [[Department of Justice]] describes as leaders of [[Greggy's Cult]], an online group that operated on [[Discord]] and gaming platforms. He was born approximately 1997 and was 28 when the indictment was unsealed on December 2, 2025. The case is United States v. Bermudez, 1:25-cr-00361 (PKC). The Department of Justice states, "An indictment is merely an allegation," and that all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.[^1]
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### Federal Charges (United States v. Bermudez, 1:25-cr-00361)
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### Arrest and Rule 5 Proceedings
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A federal grand jury in the [[Eastern District of New York]] returned an indictment unsealed on December 2, 2025, charging Brilhante alongside [[Hector Bermudez]], [[Zachary Dosch]], [[Rumaldo Valdez]], and [[Camden Rodriguez]]. The case number is 1:25-cr-00361 (PKC). The 10-count indictment charged: engaging in a child exploitation enterprise under [[18 U.S.C. § 2252A(g)]], conspiracy to produce child pornography, conspiracy to receive and distribute child pornography, and conspiracy to communicate interstate threats. The alleged criminal conduct covered January 2020 through January 2021.[^1]
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A grand jury returned the indictment on November 18, 2025 and it was filed under seal, with the docket entry dated November 19.[^2][^3] On December 2 the indictment was unsealed in redacted form, and the Justice Department announced that the defendants "were arrested today throughout the United States and will be arraigned in the Eastern District of New York at a later date."[^1][^2] The docket contains an entry dated December 3, 2025 reading "Arrest of David Brilhante in California-Southern."[^2] The docket of the [[Southern District of California]] magistrate case, 3:25-mj-06668, records an arrest on December 3, an initial appearance and detention entry on December 4, two orders setting conditions of release filed December 8, a notice of appeal to the district court on December 9, a waiver of Rule 5 hearings and a warrant of removal on December 22, and a transcript on December 29.[^4] A Rule 5(c)(3) packet received in the Eastern District of New York on December 22 included an arrest warrant dated December 2, 2025, a warrant of removal from the Southern District of California, and a pretrial services report.[^5]
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Greggy's Cult operated using coercion methods that directly informed the [[764 Network|764]] network's operational model. The group recruited minor victims through gaming platforms and social media, coerced them into producing [[CSAM]] on video, and blackmailed them with that material. [[NCITE]] tracked Greggy's Cult alongside [[CVLT]] and 764 as one of three connected precursor-successor networks accounting for 31 individuals publicly charged with federal crimes through December 2025.
|
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The government's December 10 motion states that Brilhante made his initial appearance in the Southern District of California on December 3, 2025, that pretrial services there recommended detention, and that a magistrate judge, [[Michael Berg]], granted release over the government's objection on a $750,000 property bond with home detention and computer restrictions. The motion cites the Southern District of California case as 3:25-mj-6668.[^6]
|
||||
|
||||
No guilty plea or sentencing outcome for Brilhante was publicly reported as of May 2026.
|
||||
The same motion dates the magistrate's hearing to September 5, 2025 in its procedural history and dates the release order to December 5, 2025 in its opening paragraph and in footnote 2.[^6] The government's December 26 letter dates the release order to December 5, 2025, places Judge Berg in the "Central District of California," and says the release was stayed until December 10.[^7] An order of [[Pamela K. Chen]] dated December 17, 2025 refers to a September 5, 2025 bail decision by a magistrate judge of the "Central District of California," and her December 18 order refers to Judge Berg's order of September 5, 2025.[^5][^8] The defense memorandum places the magistrate court in the Southern District of California and cites the December 5 order.[^9]
|
||||
|
||||
### Federal Charges
|
||||
|
||||
Brilhante is named in Counts One, Two and Three of the indictment; the docket's count list places him in Counts One through Three only.[^2][^3] Count One charges engaging in a child exploitation enterprise under [[18 U.S.C. § 2252A(g)]] and lists seventeen predicate violations. Brilhante is named in three of them. Violations One and Four charge sexual exploitation of a minor under 18 U.S.C. § 2251(a), each committed by Brilhante together with [[Zachary Dosch]]. Violation Three charges Brilhante, together with others, with access with intent to view child pornography ([[CSAM]]) under 18 U.S.C. § 2252(a)(4)(B).[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
Count Two charges conspiracy to sexually exploit children under 18 U.S.C. §§ 2251(a) and 2251(e), and Count Three charges conspiracy to receive and distribute child pornography under 18 U.S.C. §§ 2252(a)(2) and 2252(b)(1). Both counts cover January 2020 through January 2021.[^3] The Justice Department's December 2 release lists four offense types, including conspiracy to communicate interstate threats, for the defendants collectively.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
The government's December 10 motion states that the enterprise charge carries a twenty-year mandatory minimum and a maximum of life, and that the conspiracy under § 2251(e) carries a fifteen-year minimum and a thirty-year maximum.[^6] The December 2 letter describes the sexual exploitation charges as carrying a fifteen-year minimum and a maximum of life.[^10]
|
||||
|
||||
### Government Allegations of Role
|
||||
|
||||
The government's December 2 detention letter describes Greggy's Cult as a group that convened on Discord servers, directed minor victims on video calls to engage in sexually explicit or degrading conduct, and captured the conduct as screenshots and screen recordings shared among members.[^10] The December 10 motion attributes to Brilhante a specific role. It alleges that he targeted minors online, persuaded them to send pictures of themselves, manipulated them into sending further material, then edited the pictures and shared them online to torment the victims.[^6]
|
||||
|
||||
The motion further alleges that on at least one occasion a co-defendant directed a minor victim on a live video call while livestreaming the call to a wider audience that included Brilhante, and that Brilhante gave the co-defendant directions that the co-defendant then relayed to the victim. According to the motion, this arrangement allowed Brilhante to work with co-conspirators to abuse children when he could not do so himself.[^6] The motion also states that three reports from the [[National Center for Missing and Exploited Children]] show Brilhante using three different accounts, each a variant of his "Knight" alias, to share one image depicting a minor.[^6]
|
||||
|
||||
### Later Conduct Alleged by the Government
|
||||
|
||||
The government's December 10 motion and December 2 letter allege that two further reports to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, dated in or about August 2024 and September 2024, concerned an account that law enforcement identified as Brilhante, and the government characterizes the reported conduct as continuing after the charged period.[^6][^10] A footnote to the December 10 motion states that the account holder gave a false date of birth consistent with being a minor and that the material at issue appears consistent with an adult. A separate footnote states that during a post-arrest interview, after waiving his Miranda rights, Brilhante confirmed that the email associated with the reported account was his.[^6]
|
||||
|
||||
The motion also cites payment-record notes from 2023 through 2025 that it reads as references to sexually explicit material and to a commercial sexual encounter, and states that after his arrest Brilhante admitted to having been banned from multiple financial accounts.[^6]
|
||||
|
||||
The December 2 letter also cites an April 3, 2025 report to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children from a tipster who stated, in substance, that Brilhante, using the alias "Knight," had previously engaged in child exploitation conduct and was still engaged in it.[^10] The December 10 motion quotes the same tipster, who identified "Knight" as "David," and reported that "oHare and Knight are still up to their disgusting deeds."[^6] The tipster's report focused on co-defendant [[Camden Rodriguez]].[^6]
|
||||
|
||||
### Defense Account and Release Conditions
|
||||
|
||||
The defense memorandum argues that the government's facts on Brilhante "are draped in qualifiers and involve past investigations and anonymous reports." It states that two rounds of discovery had not produced reports, witness statements or videos substantiating the allegations, and it states that he has no criminal history.[^9]
|
||||
|
||||
The defense proposed release conditions that it described as consistent with, though more stringent than, the magistrate's order: home detention with travel restricted to San Diego County and the Eastern District of New York, a $750,000 bond secured by a trust deed on real property, no access to a computer, smartphone or the internet, residence at an approved address, and surrender of his passport.[^9]
|
||||
|
||||
The government's December 26 letter argues that the defendant's conduct as alleged included identifying and grooming victims for members of Greggy's Cult to exploit, and it cites records of conduct as recent as August 2024 and April 2025. It states that the defendant was pending transfer to the Eastern District of New York and that discovery had been limited to materials for an identity hearing in the Southern District of California.[^7]
|
||||
|
||||
### Detention, Bond and Release
|
||||
|
||||
On December 18, 2025 Judge Chen stayed Brilhante's release pending the government's appeal.[^5] On January 8, 2026, at a hearing held by video with Brilhante in custody and his appearance waived, the court granted bond "for the reasons stated on the record" and set a $1,000,000 bond.[^11] On January 9 the court set conditions of release and a $1,000,000 secured bond and ordered him released from custody of the [[Federal Bureau of Prisons]], and authorized his travel to California.[^11]
|
||||
|
||||
The January 8 bond hearing was recorded and posted to [[YouTube]]. Counsel reported the posting to the court by email on March 31, 2026, and the court's April 7 order took no action at that time, directing that such matters be reported by filed letter.[^12]
|
||||
|
||||
### Docket Status
|
||||
|
||||
On March 2, 2026 Brilhante appeared by telephone at a status conference, on bond, and the court excluded time through April 30, 2026 for the production and review of discovery and the joining of co-defendants.[^12] On April 30, 2026 he again appeared by telephone, on bond, and the court set the next conference for August 10, 2026, excluding time from April 30 through August 10 for the production and review of discovery.[^12] The docket lists a government letter dated May 8, 2026 on the first global Rule 16 production, and a status conference on August 10, 2026.[^2] The last entry on the docket, entry 106, is dated September 22, 2026 and is a notice of attorney appearance for a defendant.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Co-defendants
|
||||
|
||||
The indictment names six defendants: [[Hector Bermudez]], Brilhante, Zachary Dosch, Camden Rodriguez, [[Rumaldo Valdez]] and [[Austin Yatco]]. Bermudez was ordered detained on December 4, 2025 and was released on a $350,000 secured bond on December 12, 2025.[^2] Dosch was arraigned on March 3, 2026, entered not-guilty pleas on all counts, and was ordered detained.[^2] Rodriguez was arraigned on March 3, 2026, entered not-guilty pleas on all counts, and was released on a $400,000 secured bond on March 6, 2026.[^2] Valdez was in custody in the [[District of Hawaii]] awaiting sentencing in a separate case, 1:25-cr-112, when the government filed its December 2 letter.[^6][^10]
|
||||
|
||||
Yatco, also known as "Hairy Lips," is listed on the docket's count list as defendant six, in Counts One through Eight. A January 23, 2026 order granted the government's request for an amended arrest warrant as to Yatco and vacated the prior arrest order, and on February 27, 2026 Judge Chen ordered the indictment and arrest warrant unsealed as to him on the government's application of February 26.[^2][^13]
|
||||
|
||||
### Network Context
|
||||
|
||||
The government's December 2 letter states that Greggy's Cult is a precursor to [[764 Network|764]].[^10] The Justice Department's release states that Greggy's Cult "came into existence before another sadistic extortion network, 764," and that prominent members of 764 and similar later networks were also members of Greggy's Cult.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
[[NCITE]] reports that as of December 20, 2025, thirty-three individuals had been publicly charged in the United States for activity associated with 764, [[CVLT]] and Greggy's Cult, and that thirty-one of them had been charged federally.[^14][^15] NCITE states that all federal indictments of CVLT and Greggy's Cult defendants occurred between January and December 2025, although their primary activity occurred between 2019 and 2021.[^14] The report states that every defendant charged under 18 U.S.C. § 2252A(g) across the three groups was identified as a leader or administrator.[^14]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: DOJ OPA. "Five Leaders of 'Greggy's Cult' Charged with Sexually Exploiting Children on the Internet." December 2025. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/five-leaders-greggys-cult-charged-sexually-exploiting-children-internet; United States v. Bermudez et al., 1:25-cr-00361 (PKC) (E.D.N.Y.). https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71984626/united-states-v-bermudez/
|
||||
[^1]: DOJ OPA. "Five Leaders of 'Greggy's Cult' Charged with Sexually Exploiting Children on the Internet." Press release 25-1131, December 2, 2025. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/five-leaders-greggys-cult-charged-sexually-exploiting-children-internet
|
||||
[^2]: United States v. Bermudez et al., 1:25-cr-00361 (PKC) (E.D.N.Y.), CourtListener docket 71984626, entries 1 through 106 as viewed October 9, 2026 (last known filing September 22, 2026), including entries 1, 8, 9, 14, 26, 37, 41 and 42, the December 3, 2025 entry "Arrest of David Brilhante in California-Southern," the January 23, 2026 order for an amended arrest warrant, the February 27, 2026 unsealing order (entry 71), the March 2 and April 30 minutes, the arraignment and detention entries of March 3 and the bond entries of March 6, 2026, and entry 106. https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71984626/united-states-v-bermudez/
|
||||
[^3]: Indictment, United States v. Bermudez et al., 1:25-cr-00361 (PKC) (E.D.N.Y.), ECF 8 (redacted, filed December 2, 2025; indictment filed November 18, 2025). https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nyed.538956/gov.uscourts.nyed.538956.8.0_1.pdf
|
||||
[^4]: United States v. Brilhante, 3:25-mj-06668 (S.D. Cal.), CourtListener docket 71994075, entries 1 through 27 as viewed October 9, 2026. https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71994075/united-states-v-brilhante/
|
||||
[^5]: Docket order of Judge Pamela K. Chen, December 18, 2025, staying release; Rule 5(c)(3) documents received, entry 42, December 22, 2025; scheduling order of December 23, 2025. https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71984626/united-states-v-bermudez/
|
||||
[^6]: Government's letter appealing the release order and moving to stay, ECF 26, December 10, 2025, including footnotes 2, 3, 9 and 10. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nyed.538956/gov.uscourts.nyed.538956.26.0.pdf
|
||||
[^7]: Government's letter in opposition to the defendant's request for bail, ECF 44, December 26, 2025. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nyed.538956/gov.uscourts.nyed.538956.44.0.pdf
|
||||
[^8]: Docket order of Judge Pamela K. Chen, December 17, 2025, in United States v. Bermudez et al., 1:25-cr-00361 (PKC) (E.D.N.Y.). https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71984626/united-states-v-bermudez/
|
||||
[^9]: Defendant's motion to deny the government's appeal and memorandum of law, ECF 43, December 24, 2025, with the proposed conditions of release. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nyed.538956/gov.uscourts.nyed.538956.43.0.pdf
|
||||
[^10]: Letter from AUSA Antoinette N. Rangel and Trial Attorney Gwendelynn Bills requesting a permanent order of detention, ECF 14, December 2, 2025. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nyed.538956/gov.uscourts.nyed.538956.14.0.pdf
|
||||
[^11]: Minute entries of January 8, 2026 (bond appeal hearing) and January 9, 2026 (bond hearing), and sealed order setting conditions of release and bond, entry 46, January 9, 2026. https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71984626/united-states-v-bermudez/
|
||||
[^12]: Minute entry of March 2, 2026 (status conference); order of March 16, 2026; order of April 7, 2026 on the recorded bond hearing; minute entry of April 30, 2026 (status conference). https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71984626/united-states-v-bermudez/
|
||||
[^13]: Order unsealing the indictment and arrest warrant as to Austin Yatco, ECF 71, February 27, 2026. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nyed.538957/gov.uscourts.nyed.538957.71.0.pdf
|
||||
[^14]: NCITE, "Prosecuting 764: An Examination of Federal and State Charges," University of Nebraska Omaha, December 2025, data as of December 20, 2025. https://www.unomaha.edu/ncite/news/2025/12/img/prosecuting-nve-report.pdf
|
||||
[^15]: NCITE, "Prosecuting 764: An Examination of Federal and State Charges," landing page, December 2025. https://www.unomaha.edu/ncite/news/2025/12/764-landing-page.php
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ title: Dyer Grossman
|
|||
aliases:
|
||||
- Dyer Grossman
|
||||
created: 2026-05-17
|
||||
updated: 2026-09-22
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-09
|
||||
category: "Criminals & Offenders"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
|
|
@ -26,19 +26,22 @@ relations:
|
|||
role: "vice president"
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
---
|
||||
Dyer Grossman, of Carmel, New York, was the product of a wealthy Long Island family and a graduate of Cornell University. He taught for ten years at an exclusive boarding school for boys in [[New Jersey]] and for two years at a private academy for boys in the fourth through ninth grades, and, in the words of the district attorneys' statement, "is alleged to have been director of a boys' camp in Vermont." He applied to serve as a Big Brother in a California county while scouting sites for a boys' camp there, and sought money from wealthy contributors, including a Michigan philanthropist, to start his camp.[^3] He was vice president of [[Brother Paul's Children's Mission]], executive director of the [[Ocean Living Institute]] and youth director of [[The Church of New Revelation|the Church of the New Revelation]], of which [[Adam Starchild]] was president.[^2]
|
||||
Dyer Grossman, of Carmel, New York, was the product of a wealthy Long Island family and a graduate of Cornell University. He taught for ten years at an exclusive boarding school for boys in [[New Jersey]] and for two years at a private academy for boys in the fourth through ninth grades, and, in the words of the district attorneys' statement, "is alleged to have been director of a boys' camp in Vermont." He applied to serve as a Big Brother in a California county while scouting sites for a boys' camp there, and sought money from wealthy contributors, including a Michigan philanthropist, to start his camp.[^1] He was vice president of [[Brother Paul's Children's Mission]], executive director of the [[Ocean Living Institute]] and youth director of [[The Church of New Revelation|the Church of the New Revelation]], of which [[Adam Starchild]] was president.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
After [[Gerald Richards]] answered an advertisement in *Better Life Monthly,* in which the church offered to help readers set up child care organizations and camps, Grossman came to Port Huron from New Jersey to help set up Brother Paul's. On that trip, according to the Michigan State Police, he committed sexual acts with two Port Huron boys aged 10 and 14; the police had photographs of the 10-year-old in the motel room. He and Richards had applied to join Big Brothers and been rejected. A letter from Grossman found on Richards at his arrest in July 1976 proposed "child care" sites in nine states and the District of Columbia and described the monthly payments per boy from counties (up to 150 dollars), states (up to 400) and federal agencies (up to 700). By 1977 he was a fugitive under federal flight warrants on two counts of criminal sexual conduct and was believed by the police to be in Washington State.[^2][^4]
|
||||
After [[Gerald Richards]] answered an advertisement in *Better Life Monthly,* in which the church offered to help readers set up child care organizations and camps, Grossman came to Port Huron from New Jersey to help set up Brother Paul's. On that trip, according to the Michigan State Police, he committed sexual acts with two Port Huron boys aged 10 and 14; the police had photographs of the 10-year-old in the motel room. He and Richards had applied to join Big Brothers and been rejected. A letter from Grossman found on Richards at his arrest in July 1976 proposed "child care" sites in nine states and the District of Columbia and described the monthly payments per boy from counties (up to 150 dollars), states (up to 400) and federal agencies (up to 700). By 1977 he was a fugitive under federal flight warrants on two counts of criminal sexual conduct and was believed by the police to be in Washington State.[^2][^3]
|
||||
|
||||
On March 4, 1977, Robert F. Leonard, president-elect of the National District Attorneys Association, wrote to Benjamin Civiletti, Assistant Attorney General-designate for the Criminal Division, that there might be "a national conspiracy made up of an inter-relating network of foster homes, churches, nature camps and other similar programs," and that "someone that needs investigation is a person by the name of Dyer Grossman, who it appears, goes from state to state setting up these organizations, and in some cases, affiliating with a New Jersey church under circumstances which avoid any scrutiny by the IRS." Some of the costs, he wrote, were "unknowingly being provided by public funding," and many of the men who traveled between states to abuse children at these camps were "very wealthy individuals and some are respectable community leaders in their home towns."[^3]
|
||||
On March 4, 1977, Robert F. Leonard, president-elect of the National District Attorneys Association, wrote to Benjamin Civiletti, Assistant Attorney General-designate for the Criminal Division, that there might be "a national conspiracy made up of an inter-relating network of foster homes, churches, nature camps and other similar programs," and that "[s]omeone that needs investigation is a person by the name of Dyer Grossman, who it appears, goes from state to state setting up these organizations, and in some cases, affiliating with a New Jersey church under circumstances which avoid any scrutiny by the IRS." Some of the costs, he wrote, were "unknowingly being provided by public funding," and many of the men who traveled between states to abuse children at these camps were "very wealthy individuals and some are respectable community leaders in their home towns."[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
In a deposition taken in Amsterdam in 1982 in the litigation over his trust, [[Francis Shelden]] testified that in July 1976 he received a telephone call from Grossman, who said that a mutual acquaintance, Gerald Richards, was having severe "difficulties" and might involve Shelden in them, and that Shelden might become the subject of blackmail by Richards. Shelden testified that Grossman "suggested that it might be wise for me to leave the country for awhile ... to await events," and, when Shelden asked for advice about protecting his assets, suggested that he contact Adam Starchild, "an investment counseler specializing in offshore investments."[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Big Brother Letter
|
||||
|
||||
The writer S. Dovey wrote that Grossman co-drafted the charter of Brother Paul's, was closely associated with [[Francis Shelden]], and in a letter to Richards described a twelve-year-old boy he had obtained through a Big Brother program, and that he created the church on paper and linked it to [[Father Bud's Boys Farm]] of [[Claudius Vermilye]].[^1] In 1977 [[Adam Starchild]], president of the church, told the *Record-Eagle* that its organizations had not been set up as fronts but might have been "used" for that purpose by Grossman.[^2]
|
||||
The writer S. Dovey wrote that Grossman co-drafted the charter of Brother Paul's, was closely associated with Francis Shelden, and in a letter to Richards described a twelve-year-old boy he had obtained through a Big Brother program, and that he created the church on paper and linked it to [[Father Bud's Boys Farm]] of [[Claudius Vermilye]].[^5] In 1977 Adam Starchild, president of the church, told the *Record-Eagle* that its organizations had not been set up as fronts but might have been "used" for that purpose by Grossman.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Dovey, S. *Eye of the Chickenhawk.* Thehotstar, 2023. It places the boarding school in New York; the district attorneys' statement places it in New Jersey. Sole source for the passages so cited.
|
||||
[^1]: National District Attorneys Association, Task Force on Sexual Abuse of Children, statement and letter of Robert F. Leonard to Benjamin Civiletti, March 4, 1977, in *Sexual Exploitation of Children,* Serial No. 12, 1977, p. 78. https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153502_0041
|
||||
[^2]: Wright, Marilyn. "Porno Ring Uses Church, Tax Laws" and related articles. *Traverse City Record-Eagle,* 1976-1977, reprinted in U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Crime. *Sexual Exploitation of Children,* hearings, 95th Congress, 1st session, Serial No. 12, 1977. https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153502_0041
|
||||
[^3]: National District Attorneys Association, Task Force on Sexual Abuse of Children, statement and letter of Robert F. Leonard to Benjamin Civiletti, March 4, 1977, in *Sexual Exploitation of Children,* Serial No. 12, 1977.
|
||||
[^4]: *Chicago Tribune,* May 1977, reprinted in U.S. Senate, Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee to Investigate Juvenile Delinquency. *Protection of Children Against Sexual Exploitation,* hearings, 1977. https://archive.org/details/protectionofchil00unit
|
||||
[^3]: *Chicago Tribune,* May 1977, reprinted in U.S. Senate, Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee to Investigate Juvenile Delinquency. *Protection of Children Against Sexual Exploitation,* hearings, 1977. https://archive.org/details/protectionofchil00unit
|
||||
[^4]: *National Bank of Detroit v. Shelden,* 730 F.2d 421 (6th Cir. 1984) (Nos. 82-1737, 82-1905). https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/433085/national-bank-of-detroit-v-francis-d-shelden-the-trust-company-of-the/
|
||||
[^5]: Dovey, S. *Eye of the Chickenhawk.* Thehotstar, 2023.
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ tags:
|
|||
summary: "Gary Glitter was a British glam rock artist whose career was helped to success by Chris Denning, who catapulted him to the Top of the Pops in the 1970s."
|
||||
born: 1944-05-08
|
||||
location: "Banbury, Oxfordshire, England"
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-09
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Gary Glitter was a British glam rock artist whose career was helped to success by [[Chris Denning]], who catapulted him to the Top of the Pops in the 1970s. In November 1997, a week after Denning's arrest, Glitter was arrested by British authorities after child pornography was discovered on a computer he had taken into a repair store.[^1]
|
||||
|
|
@ -14,7 +15,7 @@ Gary Glitter was a British glam rock artist whose career was helped to success b
|
|||
|
||||
The images found on Glitter's computer were described as being at the most extreme end of child pornography content. Using a scale where child pornography ranges from naked children artistically posed to children being tortured, the material on Glitter's computer rated at the highest level, featuring acts of torture on infants. The 55-year-old pop star had created a 'vast library' of computer images which were described as 'about as hardcore, sick, and degrading as it is possible to conceive' of children as young as two.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
Glitter was jailed for four months for downloading 4,000 child porn images from the internet. This came after a sensational day in court which had seen him cleared of sexually abusing a schoolgirl of 14, but he reappeared after two hours to admit the pornography offences. Glitter had downloaded thousands of these images from specially encrypted members-only webservers, presumably one of which had been run by his old pal Chris Denning, who was running around with Warwick Spinks in Prague producing child pornography on the harder end of the scale.[^1]
|
||||
Glitter was jailed for four months for downloading 4,000 child porn images from the internet. This came after a sensational day in court which had seen him cleared of sexually abusing a schoolgirl of 14, but he reappeared after two hours to admit the pornography offences. Glitter had downloaded thousands of these images from specially encrypted members-only webservers. S. Dovey wrote that one of these had presumably been run by Chris Denning, who he wrote was running around with [[Warwick Spinks]] in Prague producing child pornography on the harder end of the scale.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### International Child Sex Tourism
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
@ -22,8 +23,8 @@ After receiving his 4-month sentence in 1999 and with his music career over, Gli
|
|||
|
||||
### Operation Yewtree and BBC Connections
|
||||
|
||||
Glitter was arrested in October 2012 and convicted of historic child sexual abuse charges related to [[Operation Yewtree]]. His arrest was part of the investigation that quickly circled back to the earlier investigations into [[Jonathan King]] and [[Chris Denning]]. One woman abused by [[Jimmy Savile]] as a ward at a group foster home called Duncroft alleged she and two other girls from the home were driven to the BBC studios and sexually assaulted in Savile's dressing room by Savile, Gary Glitter, and a third famous BBC personality.[^1]
|
||||
Glitter was arrested in October 2012 and convicted of historic child sexual abuse charges related to [[Operation Yewtree]]. His arrest was part of the investigation that quickly circled back to the earlier investigations into [[Jonathan King]] and Chris Denning. One woman abused by [[Jimmy Savile]] as a ward at a group foster home called Duncroft alleged she and two other girls from the home were driven to the BBC studios and sexually assaulted in Savile's dressing room by Savile, Gary Glitter, and a third famous BBC personality.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Dovey, S. (2023). Eye of the Chickenhawk. United States: Thehotstar.
|
||||
[^1]: Dovey, S. (2023). Eye of the Chickenhawk. United States: Thehotstar.
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -9,10 +9,17 @@ tags:
|
|||
- NewYork
|
||||
- USA
|
||||
created: 2026-05-22
|
||||
updated: 2026-05-22
|
||||
summary: "Hector Bermudez, aliases 'Fiasco,' 'Rogue,' and 'Diablo,' was a Queens, New York leader of Greggy's Cult charged in December 2025 in the Eastern District of New York with engaging in a child exploitation enterprise alongside four co-defendants."
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-09
|
||||
summary: "Hector Bermudez, aliases 'Fiasco,' 'Rogue,' and 'Diablo,' is a Queens, New York leader of Greggy's Cult charged in December 2025 in the Eastern District of New York with engaging in a child exploitation enterprise."
|
||||
born: 1996
|
||||
location: "Queens, New York"
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: member_of
|
||||
with: "[[Greggy's Cult]]"
|
||||
role: "alleged leader"
|
||||
start: 2020-01
|
||||
end: 2021-01
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
[[Hector Bermudez]], aliases "Fiasco," "Rogue," and "Diablo," is a resident of [[Queens, New York]] and a named leader of [[Greggy's Cult]] (also called the Cult of Greg), the online child exploitation network that operated on [[Discord]] from approximately January 2020 through January 2021. He was born approximately 1996 and was 29 at the time of his December 2025 indictment.
|
||||
|
|
@ -23,13 +30,21 @@ Greggy's Cult operated using methods that would define the [[764 Network|764]] n
|
|||
|
||||
### Federal Charges (United States v. Bermudez, 1:25-cr-00361)
|
||||
|
||||
A federal grand jury in the [[Eastern District of New York]] returned an indictment unsealed on December 2, 2025, charging Bermudez alongside four co-defendants: [[Zachary Dosch]] (26, Albuquerque, [[New Mexico]]), [[Rumaldo Valdez]] (22, Wahiawa, Hawaii), [[David Brilhante]] (28, San Diego, California), and [[Camden Rodriguez]] (22, Longmont, Colorado). The case number is 1:25-cr-00361 (PKC).[^2]
|
||||
A federal grand jury in the [[Eastern District of New York]] returned an indictment unsealed on December 2, 2025, charging Bermudez alongside four co-defendants named in the Justice Department's release: [[Zachary Dosch]] (26, Albuquerque, [[New Mexico]]), [[Rumaldo Valdez]] (22, Wahiawa, Hawaii), [[David Brilhante]] (28, San Diego, California), and [[Camden Rodriguez]] (22, Longmont, Colorado). The case number is 1:25-cr-00361 (PKC).[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
The 10-count indictment charged: engaging in a child exploitation enterprise, conspiracy to produce child pornography, conspiracy to receive and distribute child pornography, and conspiracy to communicate interstate threats. The alleged criminal conduct covered January 2020 through January 2021.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
No guilty plea or sentencing outcome for Bermudez was publicly reported as of May 2026.
|
||||
|
||||
### Detention and Bond
|
||||
|
||||
A detention hearing before Chief Magistrate Judge [[Vera M. Scanlon]] on December 4, 2025 ended in an order of detention, after the court denied a $250,000 bond proposal backed by three sureties and one property.[^3] Bermudez moved to revoke the detention order on December 9.[^3] After a hearing before [[Pamela K. Chen]] on December 11, the court granted the request provided conditions were met, and on December 12 Magistrate Judge [[Peggy Kuo]] set a $350,000 secured bond and recorded his release.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
The government's December 2, 2025 detention letter states that CyberTips dated from about June 2025 indicate that Bermudez continued to use Discord to solicit child sexual abuse material and to groom at least two minors, including through additional Discord accounts. The letter presents these as the government's allegations.[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: DOJ OPA. "Five Leaders of 'Greggy's Cult' Charged with Sexually Exploiting Children on the Internet." December 2025. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/five-leaders-greggys-cult-charged-sexually-exploiting-children-internet; NCITE. "Prosecuting 764: An Examination of Federal and State Charges." December 2025. https://www.unomaha.edu/ncite/news/2025/12/764-landing-page.php
|
||||
[^2]: United States v. Bermudez et al., 1:25-cr-00361 (PKC) (E.D.N.Y.), CourtListener. https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71984626/united-states-v-bermudez/; DOJ USAO-EDNY. "Five Members of Greggy's Cult Charged with Sexually Exploiting Children on the Internet." December 2025. https://www.justice.gov/usao-edny/pr/five-members-greggys-cult-charged-sexually-exploiting-children-internet
|
||||
[^3]: United States v. Bermudez et al., 1:25-cr-00361 (PKC) (E.D.N.Y.), CourtListener docket 71984626, minute entries and orders of December 4, 2025 (entries 19 and 20), December 11, 2025 (bond hearing), and December 12, 2025 (entries 33 and 34). https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71984626/united-states-v-bermudez/
|
||||
[^4]: Letter from AUSA Antoinette N. Rangel and Trial Attorney Gwendelynn Bills requesting a permanent order of detention, ECF 14, December 2, 2025. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nyed.538956/gov.uscourts.nyed.538956.14.0.pdf
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ tags:
|
|||
summary: "Brussels investigating judge of the 1980s and reopened 1997 inquiries into the murder of Christine Van Hees, who suspended the X1 investigators' work in 1997 and was reported to have ties to Nihoul."
|
||||
location: "Brussels, Belgium"
|
||||
created: 2026-05-14
|
||||
updated: 2026-09-22
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-09
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Jean-Claude Van Espen was an investigating judge (juge d'instruction) in Brussels. In the 1980s he directed the judicial investigation into the murder of [[Christine Van Hees]], killed and partly burned in the disused mushroom farm at Auderghem in 1984. When the statements of the anonymous witness X1, [[Regina Louf]], led to the case being reopened, the Brussels file, referred to as instruction 64/85 in the gendarmerie's correspondence with him, was returned at the end of January 1997 to the same judge.[^1] The gendarme Aimé Bille, assigned to it from the team of Patrick De Baets, found that the earlier investigation under Van Espen had "multiple gaps."[^2]
|
||||
|
|
@ -18,11 +18,13 @@ Jean-Claude Van Espen was an investigating judge (juge d'instruction) in Brussel
|
|||
|
||||
The Belgian parliamentary commission of inquiry into the [[Marc Dutroux]] affair asked its councillor-investigator, Marique, to look for protection mechanisms for [[Jean-Michel Nihoul]] and Dutroux in the Van Hees case, after an anonymous witness had linked Nihoul and [[Annie Bouty]] to it. When Marique spoke with investigators of the Neufchâteau antenna, the commission learned that Van Espen "was annoyed" by the contact, and it recorded its astonishment at "the violent reaction of the investigating judge." At a coordination meeting of the magistrates handling the related files on May 22, 1997, he asked that the college of prosecutors-general be seized of the question of what attitude magistrates and investigators should adopt when invited by the commission.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
On June 22, 1997, Van Espen withdrew his confidence from the antenna's team and asked the Brussels gendarmerie to restructure it "to avoid any risk of pollution" of the investigation, ordering the suspension of "all investigative acts requested by my office or announced on initiative" and stating that he would continue the investigation provisionally without the gendarmerie's help. The commission noted that the team had by then carried out some 250 of his apostilles without any observation from him on their quality. He and the procureur du Roi of Ghent declined to work further with the team, which was removed from the antenna in August 1997; he later asked to be relieved of the investigation. In its report of February 16, 1998, the commission concluded that "the Brussels investigating judge gave particular, in fact disproportionate, attention to the contacts between the councillor-investigator of the commission of inquiry and certain investigators."[^1]
|
||||
On June 22, 1997, in a letter addressed to the Brussels district commander, the BSR commander for Brabant and the antenna head Duterme, Van Espen withdrew his confidence from the antenna's team and asked the Brussels gendarmerie to restructure it "to avoid any risk of pollution" of the investigation, ordering the suspension of "all investigative acts requested by my office or announced on initiative" and stating that he would continue the investigation provisionally without the gendarmerie's help. The commission noted that the team had by then carried out some 250 of his apostilles without any observation from him on their quality. He and the procureur du Roi of Ghent declined to work further with the team, which was removed from the antenna in August 1997; he later asked to be relieved of the investigation. In its report of February 16, 1998, the commission concluded that "the Brussels investigating judge gave particular, in fact disproportionate, attention to the contacts between the councillor-investigator of the commission of inquiry and certain investigators."[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
On July 7, 1997 Van Espen wrote to the Brussels district commander, who had asked his opinion on the antenna head [[Jean-Luc Duterme]]'s report of June 3, 1997 and the person cited in it. He answered that there was indeed convergence but that it was not for him to individualize the grievances without an inquiry outside his competence, and that he was passing the elements to the Brussels prosecutor. The prosecutor sent them to the prosecutor-general, who, "vu la gravité des faits," seized the Minister of Justice, who asked [[Anne Thily]], prosecutor-general of Liège, to inquire. She put the question to the college of prosecutors-general, which on September 15, 1997 decided to put the affair to an investigating judge.[^3] The commission heard him on October 15, 1997.[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
### Press Reports
|
||||
|
||||
In 2002 *The Observer* reported that a Belgian journalist had revealed about two years earlier "the close relationship between Judge Van Espen and Nihoul and his then wife": that as a lawyer Van Espen had represented Nihoul's wife, that his sister was godmother of Nihoul's child, and that he had resigned as judge of the Van Hees investigation in early 1998 "after his relationship with Nihoul was exposed." The commission's report of February 1998 does not name Van Espen in connection with any tie to Nihoul; it records that Nihoul had several times tried to make investigators believe he was protected by a Brussels investigating judge, "(ex-)brother-in-law of a former lawyer," and found "qu'il n'en était rien" (that there was nothing to it).[^3][^1]
|
||||
In 2002 *The Observer* reported that a Belgian journalist had revealed about two years earlier "the close relationship between Judge Van Espen and Nihoul and his then wife": that as a lawyer Van Espen had represented Nihoul's wife, that his sister was godmother of Nihoul's child, and that he had resigned as judge of the Van Hees investigation in early 1998 "after his relationship with Nihoul was exposed." The commission's report of February 1998 does not name Van Espen in connection with any tie to Nihoul; it records that Nihoul had several times tried to make investigators believe he was protected by a Brussels investigating judge, "(ex-)brother-in-law of a former lawyer," and found "qu'il n'en était rien" (that there was nothing to it).[^1][^5]
|
||||
|
||||
On April 23, 1998, the prosecutors-general of Antwerp, Ghent and Brussels closed the files opened on Louf's testimony.[^2] The Van Hees murder was never solved.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
@ -30,4 +32,6 @@ On April 23, 1998, the prosecutors-general of Antwerp, Ghent and Brussels closed
|
|||
|
||||
[^1]: Chambre des Représentants de Belgique. *Enquête parlementaire sur la manière dont l'enquête, dans ses volets policiers et judiciaires, a été menée dans l'affaire Dutroux-Nihoul et consorts,* rapport complémentaire, Doc. 713/8-96/97, February 16, 1998, chapter V, "the problems within the Neufchâteau antenna," pp. 150-161; quotations translated from the French. https://www.dekamer.be/kvvcr/pdf_sections/comm/dutroux/49K0713008.pdf
|
||||
[^2]: Sénat de Belgique. Proposition visant à instituer une commission d'enquête parlementaire chargée d'enquêter sur l'éloignement de deux enquêteurs de la cellule d'enquête bruxelloise « Neufchâteau », déposée par M. Frans Lozie, Doc. 2-563/1, October 9, 2000.
|
||||
[^3]: Frenkiel, Olenka. "Belgium's silent heart of darkness." *The Observer,* May 5, 2002. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/may/05/dutroux.featuresreview
|
||||
[^3]: Chambre des Représentants de Belgique. Enquête parlementaire sur la manière dont l'enquête, dans ses volets policiers et judiciaires, a été menée dans l'affaire Dutroux-Nihoul et consorts, rapport complémentaire, Doc. 713/8-96/97, February 16, 1998, chapter V, p. 156; translated from the French. https://www.dekamer.be/FLWB/PDF/49/0713/49K0713008.pdf
|
||||
[^4]: Chambre des Représentants de Belgique. Enquête parlementaire sur la manière dont l'enquête, dans ses volets policiers et judiciaires, a été menée dans l'affaire Dutroux-Nihoul et consorts, rapport complémentaire, Doc. 713/8-96/97, February 16, 1998, hearings section, p. 34; translated from the French. https://www.dekamer.be/FLWB/PDF/49/0713/49K0713008.pdf
|
||||
[^5]: Frenkiel, Olenka. "Belgium's silent heart of darkness." *The Observer,* May 5, 2002. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/may/05/dutroux.featuresreview
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -14,29 +14,36 @@ relations:
|
|||
role: "investigating judge, Neufchâteau"
|
||||
start: 1996-08
|
||||
end: 1996-10
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
created: 2026-04-28
|
||||
updated: 2026-09-22
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-09
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Jean-Marc Connerotte was the investigating judge at Neufchâteau in the file on the abduction of [[Laetitia Delhez]], taken at Bertrix on August 9, 1996. [[Marc Dutroux]], his wife [[Michelle Martin]] and [[Michel Lelievre]] were arrested on August 12; on August 15 Dutroux confessed, and on his directions Laetitia and [[Sabine Dardenne]] were found alive in the cellar of his house at [[Marcinelle, Belgium|Marcinelle]]. The bodies of [[Julie Lejeune]] and [[Melissa Russo]] were found at Sars-la-Buissière on August 17.[^2] The parliamentary commission noted that Connerotte and the Neufchâteau prosecutor, [[Michel Bourlet]], preferred to work directly with the investigators rather than through the command of the investigation unit, in contrast to the more formal practice of his successor.[^3]
|
||||
Jean-Marc Connerotte was the investigating judge at Neufchâteau in the file on the abduction of [[Laetitia Delhez]], taken at Bertrix on August 9, 1996. [[Marc Dutroux]], his wife [[Michelle Martin]] and [[Michel Lelievre]] were arrested on August 12; on August 15 Dutroux confessed, and on his directions Laetitia and [[Sabine Dardenne]] were found alive in the cellar of his house at [[Marcinelle, Belgium|Marcinelle]]. The bodies of [[Julie Lejeune]] and [[Melissa Russo]] were found at Sars-la-Buissière on August 17.[^1] The parliamentary commission noted that Connerotte and the Neufchâteau prosecutor, [[Michel Bourlet]], preferred to work directly with the investigators rather than through the command of the investigation unit, in contrast to the more formal practice of his successor.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Hotline and X1
|
||||
|
||||
After the girls were freed, Connerotte opened a free telephone line for witnesses of child abuse and people with information on Dutroux and his associates. A Dutch-speaking woman called to say that a friend knew a great deal about grave abuse of children; the gendarme [[Patrick De Baets]], who was in Connerotte's office to report on his financial investigation of Dutroux's assets, took the call because of the language. The caller, Tania, was a friend of the witness later known as X1, [[Regina Louf]]; the call was the starting point of the so-called connected files. A special unit of the Brussels criminal investigation brigade (BSR) under De Baets was set up to question X1. One of her accounts led the investigators to the unsolved 1984 murder of [[Christine Van Hees]].[^4]
|
||||
After the girls were freed, Connerotte opened a free telephone line for witnesses of child abuse and people with information on Dutroux and his associates. A Dutch-speaking woman called to say that a friend knew a great deal about grave abuse of children; the gendarme [[Patrick De Baets]], who was in Connerotte's office to report on his financial investigation of Dutroux's assets, took the call because of the language. The caller, Tania, was a friend of the witness later known as X1, [[Regina Louf]]; the call was the starting point of the so-called connected files. A special unit of the Brussels criminal investigation brigade (BSR) under De Baets was set up to question X1. One of her accounts led the investigators to the unsolved 1984 murder of [[Christine Van Hees]].[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
The 0800 telephone line described in the parliamentary commission's April 1997 report was the commission's own line, for people who had worked on or knew of the investigation into the disappearances of minors; it became operational on November 6, 1996, and the commission decided to disregard anonymous communications received through it.[^4] The complementary report of February 1998 records that a friend of the anonymous witness telephoned Connerotte, who put her in contact with a Dutch-speaking investigator of the 3e SRC and issued a written instruction to question her.[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
### Removal
|
||||
|
||||
In October 1996, after what became known as the "spaghetti ruling" of the Court of Cassation, Connerotte was replaced as investigating judge by Jacques Langlois. Shortly before he was removed, he opened a second telephone line for information on sexual abuse of children; whether Langlois ever acted on what it produced was still without a precise answer in 2000.[^4] In June 1997 the Brussels investigating judge [[Jean-Claude Van Espen]], who held the Van Hees file, suspended all investigative acts by the team re-examining it.[^5]
|
||||
On October 14, 1996 the Court of Cassation removed Connerotte from files 86/96 (Dutroux and Nihoul) and 87/96 and ordered them sent to another investigating judge of the Neufchâteau court of first instance. The petition came from the person under investigation in those files and relied on press reports that on September 21, 1996 the Bertrix branch of the non-profit association Marc et Corinne had held a dinner for about 400 people, the proceeds going notably to the legal costs of one of the victims of the case; that Connerotte had attended as a guest of the association together with the prosecutor; and that a gift had been handed to him. The Court found those facts established and relevant, and noted that the association had filed a civil-party claim before Connerotte against the petitioner.[^6] The decision is known as the Connerotte or "spaghetti" ruling.[^7] [[Jacques Langlois]] replaced him as investigating judge.[^8] Shortly before he was removed, he opened a second telephone line for information on sexual abuse of children; whether Langlois ever acted on what it produced was still without a precise answer in 2000.[^3] In June 1997 the Brussels investigating judge [[Jean-Claude Van Espen]], who held the Van Hees file, suspended all investigative acts by the team re-examining it.[^9]
|
||||
|
||||
### The X-Witnesses
|
||||
|
||||
After a public appeal by Connerotte in September 1996, eight witnesses gave testimony alleging abuse by members of the elite, compiled as the [[X-Dossier]] under Bourlet. The testimony described orgies and murders at villas in [[Knokke-Heist]] near the [[Royal Zoute Golf Club]], at the brothel of X1's grandmother [[Cecile Beernaert]] at Elizabetlaan 83 frequented by [[Paul Vanden Boeynants]], and at estates of [[Baron Benoit de Bonvoisin]], [[Count Leopold Lippens]] and [[Count Maurice Auguste Lippens]]. The team matched X1's account of Van Hees's murder to unpublished details, and her account of a friend, "Clo," to the 1983 death of [[Carine Dellaert]], identified through a yearbook, whose autopsy found laminaria sticks and gauze. X2 named de Bonvoisin, [[Jean-Paul Dumont]] and Lippens at sadomasochistic events near Chimay; X3 described abuse at royal castles between 1950 and 1962; X4 identified pornographic films featuring X1's friends. X2 also described orgies at the Mirano club attended by Princes Philippe and Laurent. The dossier mapped politicians of the Christian Social Party backed by the [[Societe Generale de Banque]], and described Dumont as representing [[CRIES]], which used [[UNICEF]] in the production of pornography through [[Joseph Douce]] and [[Michel Caignet]]'s [[Gaie France]]; X1 described hunts and snuff films at [[ASCO Industries NV]], owned by [[Roger Boas]]. A 2005 summary of the file, later leaked through WikiLeaks, described 300 tapes, some featuring members of the elite. The accused were linked to [[Operation Gladio]] networks, and one of them, [[Melchior Wathelet]], sat on the European Court of Justice. The investigation followed [[Jean-Michel Nihoul]]'s parties, more than twenty calls between Nihoul and Dutroux around Laetitia's abduction, vans of Nihoul's company [[Achats Services Commerces|ASCO]], and some 300 violent pornographic tapes seized from Nihoul's home. It examined the 1991 disappearance of [[Katrien de Cuyper]] and the X-Kiss studio, linked through [[Gerrit-Jan Ulrich]] and [[Robbie Van Der Plancken]] to Zandvoort, and a list compiled by Serge Heylens that included [[Beat Meier]], [[Edward Brongersma]] and [[Philippe Carpentier]] of CRIES; after a note signed "Anubis" was found in [[Bernard Weinstein]]'s cabin, the [[Abrasax Institute]] was raided and found to include police members. More than twenty witnesses died in the period, among them [[Gina Pardaens-Bernaer]] in 1998, after identifying Dutroux-linked material on [[Apollo Disks]]. Connerotte was cleared of bias in 1999; in 2004 he testified that contracts had been taken out on the lives of magistrates, who needed bulletproof vehicles. The dossier was leaked and published in 1999 as *De X-dossiers.*[^1]
|
||||
After a public appeal by Connerotte in September 1996, eight witnesses gave testimony alleging abuse by members of the elite, compiled as the [[X-Dossier]] under Bourlet. According to S. Dovey, the testimony described orgies and murders at villas in [[Knokke-Heist]] near the [[Royal Zoute Golf Club]], at the brothel of X1's grandmother [[Cecile Beernaert]] at Elizabetlaan 83 frequented by [[Paul Vanden Boeynants]], and at estates of [[Baron Benoit de Bonvoisin]], [[Count Leopold Lippens]] and [[Count Maurice Auguste Lippens]]. The team matched X1's account of Van Hees's murder to unpublished details, and her account of a friend, "Clo," to the 1983 death of [[Carine Dellaert]], identified through a yearbook, whose autopsy found laminaria sticks and gauze. X2 named de Bonvoisin, [[Jean-Paul Dumont]] and Lippens at sadomasochistic events near Chimay; X3 described abuse at royal castles between 1950 and 1962; X4 identified pornographic films featuring X1's friends. X2 also described orgies at the Mirano club attended by Princes Philippe and Laurent. The dossier mapped politicians of the Christian Social Party backed by the [[Societe Generale de Banque]], and described Dumont as representing [[CRIES]], which used [[UNICEF]] in the production of pornography through [[Joseph Douce]] and [[Michel Caignet]]'s [[Gaie France]]; X1 described hunts and snuff films at [[ASCO Industries NV]], owned by [[Roger Boas]]. A 2005 summary of the file, later leaked through WikiLeaks, described 300 tapes, some featuring members of the elite. The accused were linked to [[Operation Gladio]] networks, and one of them, [[Melchior Wathelet]], sat on the European Court of Justice. The investigation followed [[Jean-Michel Nihoul]]'s parties, more than twenty calls between Nihoul and Dutroux around Laetitia's abduction, vans of Nihoul's company [[Achats Services Commerces|ASCO]], and some 300 violent pornographic tapes seized from Nihoul's home. It examined the 1991 disappearance of [[Katrien de Cuyper]] and the X-Kiss studio, linked through [[Gerrit-Jan Ulrich]] and [[Robbie Van Der Plancken]] to Zandvoort, and a list compiled by Serge Heylens that included [[Beat Meier]], [[Edward Brongersma]] and [[Philippe Carpentier]] of CRIES; after a note signed "Anubis" was found in [[Bernard Weinstein]]'s cabin, the [[Abrasax Institute]] was raided and found to include police members. More than twenty witnesses died in the period, among them [[Gina Pardaens-Bernaer]] in 1998, after identifying Dutroux-linked material on [[Apollo Disks]]. Connerotte was cleared of bias in 1999; in 2004 he testified that contracts had been taken out on the lives of magistrates, who needed bulletproof vehicles. The dossier was leaked and published in 1999 as *De X-dossiers.*[^10]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Dovey, S. *Eye of the Chickenhawk.* Thehotstar, 2023. Sole source for the passages so cited; the underlying X-witness material is Bulté, Annemie, Douglas De Coninck and Marie-Jeanne Van Heeswyck, *De X-dossiers: wat België niet mocht weten over de zaak-Dutroux,* Houtekiet, 1999. Its date for Dutroux's arrest (August 13, 1996) and its placing of the bodies of An Marchal and Eefje Lambrecks at Sars-la-Buissière are contradicted by the commission's chronology and by the reports of their recovery at Jumet on September 3, 1996.
|
||||
[^2]: Chambre des Représentants de Belgique. *Enquête parlementaire sur la manière dont l'enquête, dans ses volets policiers et judiciaires, a été menée dans l'affaire Dutroux-Nihoul et consorts,* rapport, Doc. 713/6-96/97, April 18, 1997, chronology of August 1996; translated from the French. https://www.dekamer.be/FLWB/PDF/49/0713/49K0713006.pdf
|
||||
[^3]: Chambre des Représentants de Belgique. *Enquête parlementaire...,* rapport complémentaire, Doc. 713/8-96/97, February 16, 1998, chapter V. https://www.dekamer.be/kvvcr/pdf_sections/comm/dutroux/49K0713008.pdf
|
||||
[^4]: Sénat de Belgique. Proposition visant à instituer une commission d'enquête parlementaire chargée d'enquêter sur l'éloignement de deux enquêteurs de la cellule d'enquête bruxelloise « Neufchâteau », déposée par M. Frans Lozie, Doc. 2-563/1, October 9, 2000, développements; translated from the French.
|
||||
[^5]: As cited on the Christine Van Hees page (Doc. 713/8-96/97, chapter V).
|
||||
[^1]: Chambre des Représentants de Belgique. *Enquête parlementaire sur la manière dont l'enquête, dans ses volets policiers et judiciaires, a été menée dans l'affaire Dutroux-Nihoul et consorts,* rapport, Doc. 713/6-96/97, April 18, 1997, chronology of August 1996; translated from the French. https://www.dekamer.be/FLWB/PDF/49/0713/49K0713006.pdf
|
||||
[^2]: Chambre des Représentants de Belgique. *Enquête parlementaire...,* rapport complémentaire, Doc. 713/8-96/97, February 16, 1998, chapter V. https://www.dekamer.be/kvvcr/pdf_sections/comm/dutroux/49K0713008.pdf
|
||||
[^3]: Sénat de Belgique. Proposition visant à instituer une commission d'enquête parlementaire chargée d'enquêter sur l'éloignement de deux enquêteurs de la cellule d'enquête bruxelloise « Neufchâteau », déposée par M. Frans Lozie, Doc. 2-563/1, October 9, 2000, développements; translated from the French.
|
||||
[^4]: Chambre des Représentants de Belgique. Enquête parlementaire..., rapport, Doc. 713/6-96/97, April 14, 1997, p. 25; translated from the French. https://www.dekamer.be/FLWB/PDF/49/0713/49K0713006.pdf
|
||||
[^5]: Chambre des Représentants de Belgique. Enquête parlementaire sur la manière dont l'enquête, dans ses volets policiers et judiciaires, a été menée dans l'affaire Dutroux-Nihoul et consorts, rapport complémentaire, Doc. 713/8-96/97, February 16, 1998, chapter V, p. 152; translated from the French. https://www.dekamer.be/FLWB/PDF/49/0713/49K0713008.pdf
|
||||
[^6]: Cour de cassation de Belgique. Arrêt du 14 octobre 1996, P.96.1267.F, ECLI:BE:CASS:1996:ARR.19961014.2; translated from the French. https://juportal.be/content/ECLI:BE:CASS:1996:ARR.19961014.2
|
||||
[^7]: Chambre des Représentants de Belgique. Doc. 866/7-96/97, October 8, 1997, p. 2 (l'arrêt Connerotte (ou «spaghetti»)); translated from the French. https://www.dekamer.be/FLWB/PDF/49/0866/49K0866007.pdf
|
||||
[^8]: Sénat de Belgique. Proposition visant à instituer une commission d'enquête parlementaire chargée d'enquêter sur l'éloignement de deux enquêteurs de la cellule d'enquête bruxelloise « Neufchâteau », déposée par M. Frans Lozie, Doc. 2-563/1, October 9, 2000, développements; translated from the French. https://www.senate.be/www/?MIval=/publications/viewPub.html&COLL=S&LEG=2&NR=563&VOLGNR=1&LANG=fr
|
||||
[^9]: As cited on the Christine Van Hees page (Doc. 713/8-96/97, chapter V).
|
||||
[^10]: Dovey, S. *Eye of the Chickenhawk.* Thehotstar, 2023. The underlying X-witness material is Bulté, Annemie, Douglas De Coninck and Marie-Jeanne Van Heeswyck, *De X-dossiers: wat België niet mocht weten over de zaak-Dutroux,* Houtekiet, 1999. Its date for Dutroux's arrest (August 13, 1996) and its placing of the bodies of An Marchal and Eefje Lambrecks at Sars-la-Buissière are contradicted by the commission's chronology and by the reports of their recovery at Jumet on September 3, 1996.
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -6,9 +6,14 @@ tags:
|
|||
- Belgium
|
||||
- Dutroux
|
||||
summary: "Katrien de Cuyper was a Belgian girl whose 1991 disappearance was linked to the Marc Dutroux network through testimony in the X-Dossier."
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-09
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Katrien de Cuyper was a Belgian girl whose 1991 disappearance was linked to the [[Marc Dutroux]] network through testimony in the [[X-Dossier]]. X1 ([[Regina Louf]]) described witnessing de Cuyper's murder at a castle, providing details that matched aspects of the case. Members of the [[Morkhoven Workgroup]] believed they had identified de Cuyper in pornographic photos found on the [[Apollo Disks]] seized from [[Gerrit-Jan Ulrich]]'s apartment in Zandvoort.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
The Zembla programme description of the second part of "De X-dossiers," broadcast March 18, 2004, states that Katrien de Cuyper, who disappeared in Antwerp in 1991, resembles a photograph found on a CD-ROM in the [[Zandvoort]] child pornography case, and that other indications link the case to Zandvoort; it states that the Belgian judiciary investigated none of these leads at the time.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
[^1]: Dovey, S. (2023). *Eye of the Chickenhawk*. United States: Thehotstar.
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Dovey, S. (2023). *Eye of the Chickenhawk*. United States: Thehotstar.
|
||||
[^2]: BNNVARA Zembla. "De X-dossiers, deel II," broadcast March 18, 2004; programme description in Dutch, translated. https://www.bnnvara.nl/zembla/artikelen/de-x-dossiers-deel-ii
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ tags:
|
|||
- AbuseNetworks
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
summary: "German operator of boy brothels in Rotterdam whose police file recorded the sale of hundreds of boys; officers saw him with a boy believed to be Manuel Schadwald and did not intervene."
|
||||
updated: 2026-09-22
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-09
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Lothar Glandorf was a German child trafficker operating boy brothels in Rotterdam and Berlin during the early 1990s. He owned establishments named Euro Boys and Young Boys in Rotterdam, which served as fronts for systematic child prostitution and pornography production catering to local and international pedophiles. Glandorf's enterprise formed a key node in an international child exploitation network connecting German, Dutch, and British operations, with his escort service providing boys to wealthy clients including influential figures.[^1]
|
||||
|
|
@ -13,12 +13,15 @@ Lothar Glandorf was a German child trafficker operating boy brothels in Rotterda
|
|||
Glandorf smuggled boys from Eastern Europe into Rotterdam brothels, where he pimped them to VIP clients and child pornographers, including renting a boy to sadistic pedophile [[Martin Smollners]] for a torture porn film involving electrocution of the boy's testicles. His Rotterdam operation faced investigation in 1994 following the 1993 disappearance of 12-year-old [[Manuel Schadwald]] from Berlin's [[Pinocchio Bar]], a venue linked to Glandorf, with witnesses confirming Schadwald was trafficked to Rotterdam for prostitution. Dutch authorities wiretapped Glandorf's phone during the HIK investigation, revealing his advice to a senior Dutch official named Joris on smuggling boys across borders and providing new boys for sex despite health risks like STDs; Glandorf was convicted in November 1995 for child trafficking and prostitution, with the case gaining renewed scrutiny in 1998 after the HIK report's leak exposed omitted surveillance of Schadwald and government ties. Glandorf sold boys to British child pornographers in Amsterdam, including claims by [[Robbie Van Der Plancken]] that Schadwald was sold to [[Warwick Spinks]] after transport from Berlin.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Connections
|
||||
Glandorf maintained business ties with Warwick Spinks, selling boys to his Amsterdam operations, and was investigated alongside associates like [[Karel Maasdam]] of the [[Bell Boys]] escort service, which catered to Dutch justice officials including [[Joris Demmink]]. Through the broader [[Marc Dutroux]] network, Glandorf linked to Marc Dutroux and [[Jean-Michel Nihoul]] via shared trafficking routes and porn distribution, with Robbie van der Plancken claiming involvement in Schadwald's transport and sale, tying into Dutroux dossier evidence of Amsterdam connections. Glandorf's VIP clientele included political figures like [[Paul Vanden Boeynants]] and [[Tony Van den Boggaert]], with wiretaps implicating officials in boy smuggling; his operations aligned with [[Operation Gladio]] networks through elite pedophile rings involving blackmail and international child trade.[^1]
|
||||
S. Dovey wrote that Glandorf maintained business ties with Warwick Spinks, selling boys to his Amsterdam operations. Robbie Van Der Plancken claimed, in an unbroadcast section of a Dutch television interview, that Manuel Schadwald had been sold to Spinks in Amsterdam some time after Glandorf took him from Berlin, and [[Nick Davies]] reported the claim.[^2] The [[Algemeen Dagblad]] reported on May 2, 1998 that a missing schoolboy had been seen in the boys' brothel of Lothar G. and Henk S. in Rotterdam, and was suspected of having reached it through the German Ludwig A. (44) and the Briton Warwick S.; the records found do not establish whether Warwick S. is Spinks.[^3] Dovey wrote that Glandorf was investigated alongside associates like [[Karel Maasdam]] of the [[Bell Boys]] escort service, which catered to Dutch justice officials including [[Joris Demmink]]. Through the broader [[Marc Dutroux]] network, Glandorf linked to Marc Dutroux and [[Jean-Michel Nihoul]] via shared trafficking routes and porn distribution, with Robbie van der Plancken claiming involvement in Schadwald's transport and sale, tying into Dutroux dossier evidence of Amsterdam connections. Glandorf's VIP clientele included political figures like [[Paul Vanden Boeynants]] and [[Tony Van den Boggaert]], with wiretaps implicating officials in boy smuggling; his operations aligned with [[Operation Gladio]] networks through elite pedophile rings involving blackmail and international child trade.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Rotterdam Investigation
|
||||
|
||||
Glandorf, a German, ran several brothels in Rotterdam using boys. After ignoring complaints for eighteen months, the Rotterdam police targeted him and found he had sold hundreds of boys, nearly half of those traced under 16, one only nine. Three Rotterdam surveillance officers saw him with a boy all three believed to be the missing Berlin boy Manuel Schadwald, but, according to police logs leaked to the Dutch television program *Network,* did not break cover to rescue him; Schadwald was never found. The police found the names of British men who used the brothels in his papers, one of whom crossed the North Sea weekly, and wrote a report, *De Handel in Kinderen* ("The Trade in Children"), which they never sent to Scotland Yard. Glandorf served four years of his sentence and was released.[^2]
|
||||
Glandorf, a German, ran several brothels in Rotterdam using boys. After ignoring complaints for eighteen months, the Rotterdam police targeted him and found he had sold hundreds of boys, nearly half of those traced under 16, one only nine. Three Rotterdam surveillance officers saw him with a boy all three believed to be the missing Berlin boy Manuel Schadwald, but, according to police logs leaked to the Dutch television program *Network,* did not break cover to rescue him; Schadwald was never found. The police found the names of British men who used the brothels in his papers, one of whom crossed the North Sea weekly, and wrote a report, *De Handel in Kinderen* ("The Trade in Children"), which they never sent to Scotland Yard. Glandorf served four years of his sentence and was released.[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
[^1]: Dovey, S. *Eye of the Chickenhawk.* Thehotstar, 2023. Sole source for the passages so cited.
|
||||
[^2]: Davies, Nick. "Paedophilia is easy 2: how a paedophile murder inquiry fell apart." *The Guardian,* November 27, 2000, with the author's later update. https://www.nickdavies.net/2000/11/27/paedophilia-is-easy-2-how-a-paedophile-murder-inquiry-fell-apart/
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Dovey, S. *Eye of the Chickenhawk.* Thehotstar, 2023.
|
||||
[^2]: Nick Davies, "Paedophile networks traffick young boys across Europe," dated October 1, 1998 and marked "Previously unpublished," https://www.nickdavies.net/1998/10/01/paedophile-network-trafficks-young-boys-across-europe/
|
||||
[^3]: Algemeen Dagblad, "Politie onderzoekt 'politieschandaal'," May 2, 1998, Delpher KBPERS01:003153002:mpeg21:a00051, https://resolver.kb.nl/resolve?urn=KBPERS01:003153002:mpeg21:a00051 Original: "Vermoed wordt dat de scholier daar terecht is gekomen via de Duitser Ludwig A. (44) en de Brit Warwick S." [It is suspected that the schoolboy ended up there via the German Ludwig A. (44) and the Briton Warwick S.]
|
||||
[^4]: Davies, Nick. "Paedophilia is easy 2: how a paedophile murder inquiry fell apart." *The Guardian,* November 27, 2000, with the author's later update. https://www.nickdavies.net/2000/11/27/paedophilia-is-easy-2-how-a-paedophile-murder-inquiry-fell-apart/
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ tags:
|
|||
summary: "Marc Dutroux, born November 6 1956, operated as a Belgian child trafficker and serial killer whose 1996 arrest exposed connections to international pedophile networks."
|
||||
born: 1956-11-06
|
||||
location: "Ixelles, Brussels, Belgium"
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-09
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
@ -22,11 +23,11 @@ Witnesses like [[Regina Louf|Regina Louf]] detailed Dutroux attending Nihoul's b
|
|||
|
||||
Dutroux's wife [[Michelle Martin]] and accomplice [[Michel Lelievre]] confirmed he acted on Nihoul's orders, kidnapping girls for delivery to clients. X-witnesses, including X1, accused Dutroux of participating in the 1984 murder of [[Christine Van Hees]] at a mushroom farm, matching crime scene details unavailable publicly. X1 also linked him to [[Carine Dellaert]]'s 1983 death, describing her childbirth and subsequent murder.
|
||||
|
||||
Dutroux's ties extended to German trafficker [[Lothar Glandorf]] and [[Robbie Van Der Plancken]], who transported [[Manuel Schadwald]] to Rotterdam brothels. The X-Dossier detailed Dutroux's involvement in hunts and orgies at estates of figures like [[Baron Benoit de Bonvoisin]] and Counts [[Count Leopold Lippens]] and [[Count Maurice Auguste Lippens]]. Judge [[Jean-Marc Connerotte]], removed after appealing for victims, oversaw early probes uncovering these links before replacement in 1997 amid protests.
|
||||
Dutroux's ties extended to German trafficker [[Lothar Glandorf]] and [[Robbie Van Der Plancken]], who transported [[Manuel Schadwald]] to Rotterdam brothels. The X-Dossier detailed Dutroux's involvement in hunts and orgies at estates of figures like [[Baron Benoit de Bonvoisin]] and Counts [[Count Leopold Lippens]] and [[Count Maurice Auguste Lippens]]. Judge [[Jean-Marc Connerotte]] oversaw the early inquiry until the Court of Cassation removed him on October 14, 1996 after he attended a dinner held by the association Marc et Corinne; protests followed.[^1][^2]
|
||||
|
||||
Dutroux's 2004 trial resulted in life imprisonment for murders of [[Julie Lejeune]], [[Melissa Russo]], An Marchal, and Eefje Lambrecks, but Nihoul was acquitted of key charges and released in 2005. Over 20 suspicious deaths, including prosecutor [[Hubert Massa]] and witness [[Gina Pardaens-Bernaer]], plagued the investigation. The [[Apollo Disks]] from [[Gerrit-Jan Ulrich]]'s network contained materials linking back to Dutroux's circle, with Pardaens-Bernaer identifying a Dutroux-linked perpetrator in a snuff film before her 1998 death.
|
||||
Dutroux's 2004 trial resulted in life imprisonment for murders of [[Julie Lejeune]], [[Melissa Russo]], An Marchal, and Eefje Lambrecks, but Nihoul was acquitted of the charges tied to the abductions, sentenced to five years for drug trafficking and criminal association, and paroled on April 28, 2006.[^3] Over 20 suspicious deaths, including prosecutor [[Hubert Massa]] and witness [[Gina Pardaens-Bernaer]], plagued the investigation. The [[Apollo Disks]] from [[Gerrit-Jan Ulrich]]'s network contained materials linking back to Dutroux's circle, with Pardaens-Bernaer identifying a Dutroux-linked perpetrator in a snuff film before her 1998 death.
|
||||
|
||||
Dutroux's operations aligned with [[Operation Gladio]] networks, involving blackmail of elites like [[Paul Vanden Boeynants]] and [[Paul Martens]].[[Sabine Dardenne]] and Laetitia Delhez were rescued from his dungeon in August 1996, and Dutroux received a life sentence at his 2004 trial.[^1]
|
||||
Dutroux's operations aligned with [[Operation Gladio]] networks, involving blackmail of elites like [[Paul Vanden Boeynants]] and [[Paul Martens]].[[Sabine Dardenne]] and Laetitia Delhez were rescued from his dungeon in August 1996, and Dutroux received a life sentence at his 2004 trial.[^4]
|
||||
### Kidnappings and Trafficking Operations
|
||||
|
||||
Dutroux kidnapped six girls between 1995 and 1996, holding them in a basement dungeon at his Marcinelle home. Julie Lejeune and Melissa Russo, aged 8, vanished July 22 1995; An Marchal, 17, and Eefje Lambrecks, 19, disappeared August 22 1995; Sabine Dardenne, 12, abducted May 26 1996; Laetitia Delhez, 14, taken August 9 1996.
|
||||
|
|
@ -44,11 +45,11 @@ Phone records showed 20 calls between Dutroux and Nihoul around Laetitia's abduc
|
|||
|
||||
Carine Dellaert's 1983 murder involved Dutroux and Nihoul, with autopsy showing childbirth evidence. [[Katrien de Cuyper]]'s 1991 disappearance tied to Dutroux via X1's testimony of a castle murder. Dutroux's network overlapped Spartacus via Jean-Paul Dumont, attorney for CRIES pedophile ring using UNICEF basement for filming.
|
||||
|
||||
[[Jean-Paul Dumont]] represented figures like [[Forges de Clabecq]] of Bank Brussels Lambert. Dutroux's early 1986 release by Wathelet, accused by X1 of abuse, raised cover-up claims. Judge Connerotte's removal after a victims' fundraiser sparked White Marches of 300,000 protesters.
|
||||
[[Jean-Paul Dumont]] represented figures like [[Forges de Clabecq]] of Bank Brussels Lambert. Dutroux's early release in 1992 by Wathelet, accused by X1 of abuse, raised cover-up claims. Judge Connerotte's removal after a dinner for a victims' fund sparked the White Marches, which drew between 200,000 and 300,000 participants to Brussels on October 20, 1996.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
X-Dossier leaked in 1997 detailed orgies at Lippens' estates with Dutroux present. X3 accused Dutroux of rapes at royal castles from 1950-1962. Police seized 300 violent child porn tapes from Nihoul's home, some featuring elites.
|
||||
The writer S. Dovey wrote that the X-Dossier testimony described orgies at Lippens' estates with Dutroux present. X3 accused Dutroux of rapes at royal castles from 1950-1962. Police seized 300 violent child porn tapes from Nihoul's home, some featuring elites.
|
||||
|
||||
Dutroux boasted of Slovakian contacts for easy abductions. His 2004 life sentence followed X-witness testimonies, but Nihoul received only 5 years.[^1]
|
||||
Dutroux boasted of Slovakian contacts for easy abductions. His 2004 life sentence followed X-witness testimonies, but Nihoul received only 5 years.[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
### X-Dossier and Elite Connections
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
@ -56,26 +57,31 @@ The X-Dossier, compiled by Judge Connerotte's team, contained testimonies from e
|
|||
|
||||
X1 claimed witnessing Christine Van Hees' 1984 murder at a mushroom farm, details matching police files like ligature and burns. Judge [[Jean-Claude Van Espen]], who had directed the 1980s Van Hees investigation and was later reported to have had close ties to Nihoul, suspended the Neufchâteau team's work on the reopened file in June 1997. X1 identified Carine Dellaert's 1983 murder, autopsy confirming childbirth.
|
||||
|
||||
X1 detailed hunts at Lippens' estates and snuff films at ASCO Industries factory owned by [[Roger Boas]]. Boas linked to [[Parti Social Chretien]] (CSP) elites like Paul Vanden Boeynants and Martens. X1 described parties with blackmail, escalating to violence. X2 corroborated, naming Lippens, Jean-Paul Dumont, and de Bonvoisin at sadomasochist orgies. X2 attended hunts near Chimay castle. X3 alleged royal involvement with Baudouin and Albert. X4 identified X1's friends in porn films. Investigations reopened cold cases, but team accused of fabrication and replaced in 1997. X-Dossier leaked to journalists in 1999 book, leading to King Albert's lawsuit.
|
||||
X1 detailed hunts at Lippens' estates and snuff films at ASCO Industries factory owned by [[Roger Boas]]. Boas linked to [[Parti Social Chretien]] (CSP) elites like Paul Vanden Boeynants and Martens. X1 described parties with blackmail, escalating to violence. X2 corroborated, naming Lippens, Jean-Paul Dumont, and de Bonvoisin at sadomasochist orgies. X2 attended hunts near Chimay castle. X3 alleged royal involvement with Baudouin and Albert. X4 identified X1's friends in porn films. Investigations reopened cold cases, but team accused of fabrication and replaced in 1997. The testimonies were published in 1999 in the book De X-dossiers;[^5] Dovey wrote that King Albert sued over it.
|
||||
|
||||
2004 summary leaked via Wikileaks in 2009. Dutroux's ties to Spartacus via Dumont, who represented [[CRIES]] members using [[UNICEF]] for porn. CRIES linked to French pastor [[Joseph Douce]] and neo-Nazi [[Michel Caignet]].
|
||||
|
||||
[[Beat Meier]], Spartacus associate, smuggled boys with Roger Lawrence for films. Ties to Belgian royal family via X3's claims of abuse at castles. Over 20 witness deaths, including prosecutor Massa and Gina Pardaens-Bernaer, who identified Dutroux-linked snuff on Apollo Disks before her 1998 death.[^1]
|
||||
[[Beat Meier]], Spartacus associate, smuggled boys with Roger Lawrence for films. Ties to Belgian royal family via X3's claims of abuse at castles. Over 20 witness deaths, including prosecutor Massa and Gina Pardaens-Bernaer, who identified Dutroux-linked snuff on Apollo Disks before her 1998 death.[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
### The 1989 Conviction and Early Release
|
||||
|
||||
Dutroux's 1996 arrest was not his first: on April 26, 1989 he was convicted of abducting and raping five girls and women and sentenced to 13.5 years, but Justice Minister Wathelet paroled him on April 8, 1992 after roughly three years, over the objections of both the public prosecutor and a prison psychiatrist who had assessed him as a high-risk offender. He resumed offending soon after release, and the decision became a central controversy in the later parliamentary inquiries.[^2]
|
||||
Dutroux's 1996 arrest was not his first: on April 26, 1989 he was convicted of abducting and raping five girls and women and sentenced to 13.5 years, but Justice Minister Wathelet paroled him on April 8, 1992 after roughly three years, over the objections of both the public prosecutor and a prison psychiatrist who had assessed him as a high-risk offender. He resumed offending soon after release, and the decision became a central controversy in the later parliamentary inquiries.[^6]
|
||||
|
||||
### Witness X1 Corroboration and the De Baets Team
|
||||
|
||||
The investigative team under the gendarme [[Patrick De Baets]] conducted extensive interviews with Regina Louf (Witness X1) and corroborated significant portions of her testimony through independent means before being removed from the case after pursuing leads toward prominent individuals; Judge Jacques Langlois ordered a rereading of all the related files in the summer of 1997, and on April 23, 1998, the prosecutors-general closed them, a course which De Baets and his colleagues maintained was a political decision.[^2][^4]
|
||||
The investigative team under the gendarme [[Patrick De Baets]] conducted extensive interviews with Regina Louf (Witness X1) and corroborated significant portions of her testimony through independent means before being removed from the case after pursuing leads toward prominent individuals; Judge Jacques Langlois ordered a rereading of all the related files in the summer of 1997, and on April 23, 1998, the prosecutors-general closed them, a course which De Baets and his colleagues maintained was a political decision.[^6][^7]
|
||||
|
||||
### Gunderson, Gosch, and U.S. Parallels
|
||||
|
||||
Researchers including [[Ted Gunderson]], a former head of the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]]'s [[Los Angeles]] field office, drew parallels between the Belgian network and organized-abuse rings in the United States, including the [[McMartin Preschool]] case and the [[The Finders|Finders]] case; [[Noreen Gosch]], mother of kidnapped Iowa paperboy [[Johnny Gosch]], publicly stated her belief that her son had been abducted into an organized network with connections to both American and European intelligence services.[^3]
|
||||
Researchers including [[Ted Gunderson]], a former head of the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]]'s [[Los Angeles]] field office, drew parallels between the Belgian network and organized-abuse rings in the United States, including the [[McMartin Preschool]] case and the [[The Finders|Finders]] case; [[Noreen Gosch]], mother of kidnapped Iowa paperboy [[Johnny Gosch]], publicly stated her belief that her son had been abducted into an organized network with connections to both American and European intelligence services.[^8]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
[^1]: Dovey, S. (2023). *Eye of the Chickenhawk*. United States: Thehotstar.
|
||||
[^2]: "Paedophile Marc Dutroux and the Murders That United a Divided Belgium," *Euronews*, October 27, 2019; *Dutroux* trial verdict, Arlon Assize Court, June 17, 2004; U.S. Office of Justice Programs, "Exhausting Whiteness: The 1996-98 Belgian Parliamentary Inquiry," 2004.
|
||||
[^3]: A.B.H. Alexander, "Sex, Drugs, the CIA, MIND CONTROL and Your Children," PROBE, c. 1996; Ted Gunderson investigative reports.
|
||||
[^4]: Sénat de Belgique. Proposition déposée par M. Frans Lozie, Doc. 2-563/1, October 9, 2000, développements.
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Cour de cassation de Belgique. Arrêt du 14 octobre 1996, P.96.1267.F, ECLI:BE:CASS:1996:ARR.19961014.2; translated from the French. https://juportal.be/content/ECLI:BE:CASS:1996:ARR.19961014.2
|
||||
[^2]: "14-20 octobre 1996." Encyclopaedia Universalis, chronicle entry "Belgique. Vives réactions au dessaisissement du juge chargé de l'enquête sur le réseau de pédophilie"; translated from the French. https://www.universalis.fr/evenement/14-20-octobre-1996-vives-reactions-au-dessaisissement-du-juge-charge-de-l-enquete-sur-le-reseau-de-pedophilie/
|
||||
[^3]: "Michel Nihoul est décédé." La Libre Belgique, October 23, 2019; translated from the French. https://www.lalibre.be/belgique/societe/michel-nihoul-est-decede-5db04ec39978e218e36b29be Sentence: "'Most hated' Belgian in jail for life." Al Jazeera, June 22, 2004. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2004/6/22/most-hated-belgian-in-jail-for-life
|
||||
[^4]: Dovey, S. (2023). *Eye of the Chickenhawk*. United States: Thehotstar.
|
||||
[^5]: Bulté, Annemie, Douglas De Coninck and Marie-Jeanne Van Heeswyck. De X-dossiers: wat België niet mocht weten over de zaak-Dutroux. Antwerp: Houtekiet, 1999, 543 pp., ISBN 90-5240-536-0 (catalogue record from the Library of Congress, LCCN 2002406745, as listed in Open Library). https://openlibrary.org/isbn/9789052405360
|
||||
[^6]: "Paedophile Marc Dutroux and the Murders That United a Divided Belgium," *Euronews*, October 27, 2019; *Dutroux* trial verdict, Arlon Assize Court, June 17, 2004; U.S. Office of Justice Programs, "Exhausting Whiteness: The 1996-98 Belgian Parliamentary Inquiry," 2004.
|
||||
[^7]: Sénat de Belgique. Proposition déposée par M. Frans Lozie, Doc. 2-563/1, October 9, 2000, développements.
|
||||
[^8]: A.B.H. Alexander, "Sex, Drugs, the CIA, MIND CONTROL and Your Children," PROBE, c. 1996; Ted Gunderson investigative reports.
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -12,29 +12,42 @@ relations:
|
|||
with: "[[Marc Dutroux]]"
|
||||
role: "procureur du Roi, Neufchâteau"
|
||||
start: 1996-08
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: reported_to
|
||||
with: "[[Anne Thily]]"
|
||||
role: "prosecutor-general, Liège"
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
created: 2026-04-28
|
||||
updated: 2026-09-22
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-09
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Michel Bourlet was the procureur du Roi (King's prosecutor) at Neufchâteau during the investigation of [[Marc Dutroux]] opened after the abduction of [[Laetitia Delhez]] in August 1996, and worked the file alongside the investigating judge [[Jean-Marc Connerotte]]. The parliamentary commission noted that Bourlet and Connerotte had preferred, in the past and at the time, to work directly with the investigators rather than through the command of the investigation unit.[^2]
|
||||
Michel Bourlet was the procureur du Roi (King's prosecutor) at Neufchâteau during the investigation of [[Marc Dutroux]] opened after the abduction of [[Laetitia Delhez]] in August 1996, and worked the file alongside the investigating judge [[Jean-Marc Connerotte]]. The parliamentary commission noted that Bourlet and Connerotte had preferred, in the past and at the time, to work directly with the investigators rather than through the command of the investigation unit.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
After Connerotte's replacement by Jacques Langlois in October 1996, the families of the missing children continued to meet Bourlet, whom they trusted, rather than Langlois. On October 24, 1997, [[Anne Thily]], prosecutor-general at the court of appeal in Liège, wrote to Bourlet in a letter marked "personal and confidential" asking him to stop all contact with the press and, temporarily, with the parents of the missing children except on the parts of the files concerning them; the commission found that the families were thereby partly deprived of information on the investigation.[^2]
|
||||
After Connerotte's replacement by [[Jacques Langlois]] in October 1996, the families of the missing children continued to meet Bourlet, whom they trusted, rather than Langlois. On October 24, 1997, [[Anne Thily]], prosecutor-general at the court of appeal in Liège, wrote to Bourlet in a letter marked "personal and confidential" asking him to stop all contact with the press and, temporarily, with the parents of the missing children except on the parts of the files concerning them; the commission found that the families were thereby partly deprived of information on the investigation.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
In January 1998, amid a press campaign against the witness X1, [[Regina Louf]], fed by leaks from police and judicial circles, the Liège prosecutor-general opened a series of investigations into the leaks, in the course of which Bourlet's telephone was placed under surveillance. At least one officer of the judicial police was charged, in a case said in 2000 to be under examination in the Namur judicial district. The Belgian Senate proposal of 2000 asked what the leak inquiry had found, whom it had charged, and whether the leaks had been intended to protect particular participants in the investigation.[^3]
|
||||
In January 1998, amid a press campaign against the witness X1, [[Regina Louf]], fed by leaks from police and judicial circles, the Liège prosecutor-general opened a series of investigations into the leaks, in the course of which Bourlet's telephone was placed under surveillance. At least one officer of the judicial police was charged, in a case said in 2000 to be under examination in the Namur judicial district. The Belgian Senate proposal of 2000 asked what the leak inquiry had found, whom it had charged, and whether the leaks had been intended to protect particular participants in the investigation.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### The X-Dossier
|
||||
|
||||
Bourlet led the team that examined the testimony of eight X-witnesses who came forward after Connerotte's appeal, compiled as the [[X-Dossier]]. It concerned orgies, hunts and murders at villas in [[Knokke-Heist]] near the [[Royal Zoute Golf Club]], at the brothel of X1's grandmother [[Cecile Beernaert]] at Elizabetlaan 83, behind Golfpad 4, frequented by [[Paul Vanden Boeynants]] and the Lippens family, in the Ardennes, and at the estates of [[Baron Benoit de Bonvoisin]], [[Count Leopold Lippens]] and [[Count Maurice Auguste Lippens]], and snuff films at the [[ASCO Industries NV]] factory owned by [[Roger Boas]]. The team matched X1's account of "Chrissie" to the 1984 murder of [[Christine Van Hees]], which she described as committed by Dutroux, [[Jean-Michel Nihoul]], [[Bernard Weinstein]] and the lawyer [[Michel Vander Elst]], and her account of "Clo," traced through a school yearbook, to the 1983 death of [[Carine Dellaert]], found in a septic tank, whose autopsy found laminaria sticks and gauze; X1 described a childbirth and a gang rape involving Nihoul, [[Jean-Paul Dumont]] and Leopold Lippens. X2 named de Bonvoisin, Dumont and Lippens at sadomasochistic events near Chimay and described orgies at the Mirano club with Princes Philippe and Laurent; X3 described abuse at the castles of Prince Charles, King Baudouin and King Albert between 1950 and 1962; X4 identified X1's friends in pornographic films. The team examined the 1991 disappearance of [[Katrien de Cuyper]] and the X-Kiss studio in Antwerp, linked to Zandvoort through [[Gerrit-Jan Ulrich]] and [[Robbie Van Der Plancken]]; a list by Serge Heylens naming [[Beat Meier]], [[Edward Brongersma]] and [[Philippe Carpentier]] of [[CRIES]]; Dumont's representation of CRIES, whose members used basements of [[UNICEF]] for filming, with links through [[Joseph Douce]] and [[Michel Caignet]]'s [[Gaie France]] to [[Spartacus International]]; hierarchies involving [[Paul Martens]] and Christian Social Party politicians backed by the [[Societe Generale de Banque]]; and the [[Abrasax Institute]], raided after a note signed "Anubis" was found in Weinstein's cabin, which included police members. Chantal Storme corroborated X1's account of the brothel. The investigation also found more than twenty calls between Dutroux and Nihoul around Laetitia's abduction, financial trails to accounts in Europe, and violent pornographic tapes at Nihoul's home.[^1]
|
||||
According to S. Dovey, Bourlet led the team that examined the testimony of eight X-witnesses who came forward after Connerotte's appeal, compiled as the [[X-Dossier]]. It concerned orgies, hunts and murders at villas in [[Knokke-Heist]] near the [[Royal Zoute Golf Club]], at the brothel of X1's grandmother [[Cecile Beernaert]] at Elizabetlaan 83, behind Golfpad 4, frequented by [[Paul Vanden Boeynants]] and the Lippens family, in the Ardennes, and at the estates of [[Baron Benoit de Bonvoisin]], [[Count Leopold Lippens]] and [[Count Maurice Auguste Lippens]], and snuff films at the [[ASCO Industries NV]] factory owned by [[Roger Boas]]. The team matched X1's account of "Chrissie" to the 1984 murder of [[Christine Van Hees]], which she described as committed by Dutroux, [[Jean-Michel Nihoul]], [[Bernard Weinstein]] and the lawyer [[Michel Vander Elst]], and her account of "Clo," traced through a school yearbook, to the 1983 death of [[Carine Dellaert]], found in a septic tank, whose autopsy found laminaria sticks and gauze; X1 described a childbirth and a gang rape involving Nihoul, [[Jean-Paul Dumont]] and Leopold Lippens. X2 named de Bonvoisin, Dumont and Lippens at sadomasochistic events near Chimay and described orgies at the Mirano club with Princes Philippe and Laurent; X3 described abuse at the castles of Prince Charles, King Baudouin and King Albert between 1950 and 1962; X4 identified X1's friends in pornographic films. The team examined the 1991 disappearance of [[Katrien de Cuyper]] and the X-Kiss studio in Antwerp, linked to Zandvoort through [[Gerrit-Jan Ulrich]] and [[Robbie Van Der Plancken]]; a list by Serge Heylens naming [[Beat Meier]], [[Edward Brongersma]] and [[Philippe Carpentier]] of [[CRIES]]; Dumont's representation of CRIES, whose members used basements of [[UNICEF]] for filming, with links through [[Joseph Douce]] and [[Michel Caignet]]'s [[Gaie France]] to [[Spartacus International]]; hierarchies involving [[Paul Martens]] and Christian Social Party politicians backed by the [[Societe Generale de Banque]]; and the [[Abrasax Institute]], raided after a note signed "Anubis" was found in Weinstein's cabin, which included police members. Chantal Storme corroborated X1's account of the brothel. The investigation also found more than twenty calls between Dutroux and Nihoul around Laetitia's abduction, financial trails to accounts in Europe, and violent pornographic tapes at Nihoul's home.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
Bourlet's team was replaced in 1997 after accusations that it had fed details to X1, and investigators were charged and cleared in 1999. The dossier was leaked to Flemish journalists and published in 1999 as *De X-dossiers,* and King Albert sued in 2001. A summary of 1,235 pages, prepared for the 2004 trial, described 300 violent tapes from Nihoul's home, some with members of the elite, and was leaked through WikiLeaks in 2009. More than twenty witnesses died during the investigation, among them [[Gina Pardaens-Bernaer]], who had identified Dutroux-linked material on [[Apollo Disks]], and Hubert Massa, by suicide in 1998. The accused were linked to [[Operation Gladio]] networks, and [[Melchior Wathelet]] sat on the European Court of Justice. The 2004 trial did not hear the X-witnesses; Bourlet criticized the acquittals and called for cases such as Dellaert's to be reopened.[^1]
|
||||
Dovey wrote that Bourlet's team was replaced in 1997 after accusations that it had fed details to X1, and that investigators were charged and cleared in 1999. The dossier was leaked to Flemish journalists and published in 1999 as *De X-dossiers,* and King Albert sued in 2001. A summary of 1,235 pages, prepared for the 2004 trial, described 300 violent tapes from Nihoul's home, some with members of the elite, and was leaked through WikiLeaks in 2009. More than twenty witnesses died during the investigation, among them [[Gina Pardaens-Bernaer]], who had identified Dutroux-linked material on [[Apollo Disks]], and Hubert Massa, by suicide in 1998. The accused were linked to [[Operation Gladio]] networks, and [[Melchior Wathelet]] sat on the European Court of Justice. The 2004 trial did not hear the X-witnesses; Bourlet criticized the acquittals and called for cases such as Dellaert's to be reopened.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
The parliamentary commission's complementary report of February 16, 1998 records that Bourlet and Jean-Marc Connerotte had in the past preferred, and still preferred, direct contact between magistrates and investigators, while Judge Langlois preferred to go through the antenna head; [[Jean-Luc Duterme]]'s note of June 3, 1997 complained that an investigator maintained a direct contact with Bourlet, whom he informed unilaterally.[^4] The commission heard Bourlet on June 3 and October 14, 1997.[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
The Senate proposal of October 9, 2000 states that after the January 1998 leaks the prosecutor-general of Liège opened investigations and that Bourlet's telephone was at one point placed under surveillance, and that at least one judicial police officer was charged.[^6] On September 28, 1998 the justice committee tabled motions on an interpellation by Frans Lozie on the systematic intimidation of the Neufchâteau prosecutor by the Liège prosecutor-general's office; the recommendation asked the government to do everything so that the Neufchâteau prosecutor could continue his work in full freedom and, if need be, to relieve the Liège prosecutor-general of her functions.[^7]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Arlon Trial
|
||||
|
||||
[[La Libre Belgique]] reported on June 1, 2004 that at the trial Bourlet spoke at length on the abduction of one of the surviving victims and called Nihoul certainly guilty, while the advocate general said nothing of Nihoul in his requisitions.[^8]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Dovey, S. *Eye of the Chickenhawk.* Thehotstar, 2023. Sole source for the passages so cited; the underlying X-witness material is Bulté, Annemie, Douglas De Coninck and Marie-Jeanne Van Heeswyck, *De X-dossiers: wat België niet mocht weten over de zaak-Dutroux* (Houtekiet, 1999). It describes Bourlet as assigned to the case by Connerotte, which inverts their roles, and gives August 13, 1996, for Dutroux's arrest, contradicted by the commission's chronology.
|
||||
[^2]: Chambre des Représentants de Belgique. *Enquête parlementaire sur la manière dont l'enquête, dans ses volets policiers et judiciaires, a été menée dans l'affaire Dutroux-Nihoul et consorts,* rapport complémentaire, Doc. 713/8-96/97, February 16, 1998, chapter V; translated from the French. https://www.dekamer.be/kvvcr/pdf_sections/comm/dutroux/49K0713008.pdf
|
||||
[^3]: Sénat de Belgique. Proposition visant à instituer une commission d'enquête parlementaire chargée d'enquêter sur l'éloignement de deux enquêteurs de la cellule d'enquête bruxelloise « Neufchâteau », déposée par M. Frans Lozie, Doc. 2-563/1, October 9, 2000, développements; translated from the French.
|
||||
[^1]: Chambre des Représentants de Belgique. *Enquête parlementaire sur la manière dont l'enquête, dans ses volets policiers et judiciaires, a été menée dans l'affaire Dutroux-Nihoul et consorts,* rapport complémentaire, Doc. 713/8-96/97, February 16, 1998, chapter V; translated from the French. https://www.dekamer.be/kvvcr/pdf_sections/comm/dutroux/49K0713008.pdf
|
||||
[^2]: Sénat de Belgique. Proposition visant à instituer une commission d'enquête parlementaire chargée d'enquêter sur l'éloignement de deux enquêteurs de la cellule d'enquête bruxelloise « Neufchâteau », déposée par M. Frans Lozie, Doc. 2-563/1, October 9, 2000, développements; translated from the French.
|
||||
[^3]: Dovey, S. *Eye of the Chickenhawk.* Thehotstar, 2023. The underlying X-witness material is Bulté, Annemie, Douglas De Coninck and Marie-Jeanne Van Heeswyck, *De X-dossiers: wat België niet mocht weten over de zaak-Dutroux* (Houtekiet, 1999). It describes Bourlet as assigned to the case by Connerotte, which inverts their roles, and gives August 13, 1996, for Dutroux's arrest, contradicted by the commission's chronology.
|
||||
[^4]: Chambre des Représentants de Belgique. Enquête parlementaire sur la manière dont l'enquête, dans ses volets policiers et judiciaires, a été menée dans l'affaire Dutroux-Nihoul et consorts, rapport complémentaire, Doc. 713/8-96/97, February 16, 1998, chapter V, pp. 153-154; translated from the French. https://www.dekamer.be/FLWB/PDF/49/0713/49K0713008.pdf
|
||||
[^5]: Chambre des Représentants de Belgique. Enquête parlementaire sur la manière dont l'enquête, dans ses volets policiers et judiciaires, a été menée dans l'affaire Dutroux-Nihoul et consorts, rapport complémentaire, Doc. 713/8-96/97, February 16, 1998, hearings section, p. 34; translated from the French. https://www.dekamer.be/FLWB/PDF/49/0713/49K0713008.pdf
|
||||
[^6]: Sénat de Belgique. Proposition visant à instituer une commission d'enquête parlementaire chargée d'enquêter sur l'éloignement de deux enquêteurs de la cellule d'enquête bruxelloise « Neufchâteau », déposée par M. Frans Lozie, Doc. 2-563/1, October 9, 2000, développements; translated from the French. https://www.senate.be/www/?MIval=/publications/viewPub.html&COLL=S&LEG=2&NR=563&VOLGNR=1&LANG=fr
|
||||
[^7]: Chambre des Représentants de Belgique. Motions of September 28, 1998, Doc. 25/365-1995; translated from the French and Dutch. https://www.dekamer.be/FLWB/PDF/49/0025/49K0025365.pdf
|
||||
[^8]: "Au plus vif de la polémique." La Libre Belgique, June 1, 2004; translated from the French. https://www.lalibre.be/belgique/2004/06/01/au-plus-vif-de-la-polemique-FBRY7S2PXJCR7JBHRC5T5HWYYU/
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
58
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Patrick De Baets.md
Normal file
58
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Patrick De Baets.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,58 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
aliases:
|
||||
- Patrick De Baets
|
||||
- Adjudant De Baets
|
||||
- Gendarme De Baets
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- KeyFigure
|
||||
- Belgium
|
||||
- Dutroux
|
||||
- Gendarmerie
|
||||
- XWitnesses
|
||||
category: "Law Enforcement & Legal"
|
||||
summary: "Brussels gendarme of the third section of the BSR who took the first interviews of the anonymous X witnesses in 1996 and was removed from the Neufchâteau antenna in 1997."
|
||||
location: "Brussels, Belgium"
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: participant_in
|
||||
with: "[[X-Dossier]]"
|
||||
start: 1996-08
|
||||
end: 1997-08
|
||||
role: "gendarme of the 3e SRC cell that conducted the interviews of X1"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
created: 2026-10-09
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-09
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Patrick De Baets is a Belgian gendarme, an adjudant of the third section (3e SRC) of the [[Brussels]] criminal investigation brigade (BSR), who conducted the first interviews of the anonymous witness X1, [[Regina Louf]], in 1996 and 1997. According to a Senate proposal of October 2000, he has remained off the Neufchâteau inquiry since the summer of 1997.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### The First Interviews
|
||||
|
||||
According to the Senate proposal tabled by [[Frans Lozie]] on October 9, 2000, De Baets was in the office of the [[Neufchâteau]] investigating judge [[Jean-Marc Connerotte]] to report on his financial inquiry into the assets of [[Marc Dutroux]] when Connerotte received a call from a Dutch-speaking woman, Tania, whose friend knew of grave abuse of children. Connerotte passed him the telephone because of the language. After some days Louf contacted De Baets, and a special cell under his direction videotaped her interviews, each summarized in French for Neufchâteau.[^1] The parliamentary commission's complementary report of February 1998 records that the 3e SRC members were assigned to the related files of September 1996 on the basis of the anonymous witness's statements, that Connerotte put the caller's friend in contact with a Dutch-speaking investigator of the 3e SRC and issued a written instruction to that investigator to question her, and that the Neufchâteau antenna was set up in separate premises after November 25, 1996.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
The commission listed De Baets as "adjudant - 3e SRC de la BSR de Bruxelles" among the persons heard on October 14, 1997, with [[Aimé Bille]], [[Michel Bourlet]] and others. [[Jean-Luc Duterme]], [[Jacques Langlois]] and [[Jean-Claude Van Espen]] were heard the next day.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
[[Michel Clippe]], a former adjudant of the Brussels BSR, told La Dernière Heure in 2020 that his work consisted of carrying out checks and verifications after Louf's statements and that he was able to verify a great deal of the information she gave, which proved accurate.[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Dispute in the Antenna
|
||||
|
||||
The commission records that tensions in the antenna, present by December 1996 and January 1997, concerned the value of an anonymous witness's statements and the antenna's internal organization. On June 3, 1997 the Brussels BSR commander was sent a note by the antenna's commander, Duterme, which accused one investigator of manipulating an anonymous witness's interviews and of lacking objectivity.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
The Senate proposal places the start of the trouble earlier: from April 1997 the tension between Duterme and De Baets rose, and Duterme ordered colleagues of De Baets to reread the interviews and report on the credibility of the witness's statements and on possible manipulation of the interviews by De Baets's team. The proposal describes the first such report as very negative for De Baets and as totally lacking credibility.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
In the Chamber of Representatives, the justice committee's interpellations of October 21, 1998 included one by [[Gerolf Annemans]] on the statements of gendarme De Baets on the manipulation of justice, and one by [[Vincent Decroly]] on the astonishing circumstances of the removal of De Baets and Bille from the Neufchâteau antenna.[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
### Removal
|
||||
|
||||
The Senate proposal states that Langlois ordered a complete rereading of the related files in the summer of 1997 and temporarily removed a number of gendarmes from the Brussels cell, and that De Baets and Bille have remained off the inquiry. The commission's own account describes the antenna's team as placed at rest on July 14, 1997 and temporarily withdrawn on August 26, 1997 by the Brussels BSR commander, with Langlois writing on September 2, 1997 that he opposed a definitive removal until the persons concerned could explain the grievances against them.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
According to the same Senate proposal, the inquiry into De Baets and Bille by the investigating judge Pignolet was closed without further action and a gendarmerie disciplinary inquiry acquitted them completely; the gendarmerie hierarchy stated that both had carried out their duties in an exemplary manner. They then filed more than eighty complaints for calumny, defamation and forgery against colleagues and magistrates who compiled the rereading file, and were kept from judicial police missions.[^1] The Zembla description of its second programme, broadcast March 18, 2004, states that the gendarmerie leadership judged after some months that the inquiry had not been conducted correctly, that the investigators were suspected of falsifying a procès-verbal and that a judicial procedure was started, and that three years later an internal gendarmerie commission reported that they had done their work with integrity and professionally.[^6]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Sénat de Belgique. Proposition visant à instituer une commission d'enquête parlementaire chargée d'enquêter sur l'éloignement de deux enquêteurs de la cellule d'enquête bruxelloise « Neufchâteau », déposée par M. Frans Lozie, Doc. 2-563/1, October 9, 2000, développements; translated from the French. https://www.senate.be/www/?MIval=/publications/viewPub.html&COLL=S&LEG=2&NR=563&VOLGNR=1&LANG=fr
|
||||
[^2]: Chambre des Représentants de Belgique. *Enquête parlementaire sur la manière dont l'enquête, dans ses volets policiers et judiciaires, a été menée dans l'affaire Dutroux-Nihoul et consorts,* rapport complémentaire, Doc. 713/8-96/97, February 16, 1998, chapter V, pp. 152-158; translated from the French. https://www.dekamer.be/FLWB/PDF/49/0713/49K0713008.pdf
|
||||
[^3]: Chambre des Représentants de Belgique. Doc. 713/8-96/97, February 16, 1998, hearings section, p. 34; translated from the French. https://www.dekamer.be/FLWB/PDF/49/0713/49K0713008.pdf
|
||||
[^4]: "Régina Louf, témoin X1 dans l'affaire Dutroux, brise le silence," interview with Régina Louf and statement of Michel Clippe. *La Dernière Heure,* online, 2020; translated from the French. https://www.dhnet.be/actu/faits/regina-louf-temoin-x1-dans-l-affaire-dutroux-brise-le-silence-marc-dutroux-libere-je-m-y-prepare-5e652e1e9978e2051e15c16c
|
||||
[^5]: Chambre des Représentants de Belgique. Motions of October 21, 1998 on the interpellations of Marc Verwilghen, Frans Lozie, Gerolf Annemans, Charles Janssens and Vincent Decroly, Doc. 25/370-1995; translated from the French and Dutch. https://www.dekamer.be/FLWB/PDF/49/0025/49K0025370.pdf
|
||||
[^6]: BNNVARA Zembla. "De X-dossiers, deel II," broadcast March 18, 2004; programme description in Dutch, translated. https://www.bnnvara.nl/zembla/artikelen/de-x-dossiers-deel-ii
|
||||
|
|
@ -7,20 +7,25 @@ tags:
|
|||
- Person
|
||||
- Belgium
|
||||
- Dutroux
|
||||
summary: "Family friend of Regina Louf (witness X1) who, her parents told police, had a key to their home and access to their twelve-year-old daughter, and who admitted his relationship with her to police."
|
||||
summary: "Family friend of Regina Louf (witness X1) whom The Observer reported in 2002 had a key to her parents' home and, by the paper's account, admitted to police a relationship with the twelve-year-old."
|
||||
location: "Belgium"
|
||||
created: 2026-05-14
|
||||
updated: 2026-09-22
|
||||
updated: 2026-10-09
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Tony Van den Bogaert was a friend of the family of [[Regina Louf]], the witness X1 in the [[Marc Dutroux]] investigation, in Ghent. Louf's parents admitted to police that Van den Bogaert, then in his forties, had had a key to their home and unlimited access to their twelve-year-old daughter, and he admitted his relationship with her to police. In 2002 he was living on the border of Belgium and the Netherlands and had not been prosecuted.[^1] On April 23, 1998, in a confrontation with Louf, a man described as her "so-called protector" admitted that he had had sex with her when she was twelve, with her parents' knowledge, and had once lent her to others; the admission was not pursued because the acts were time-barred.[^2]
|
||||
Tony Van den Bogaert is the name *The Observer* gave in 2002 for a friend of the family of [[Regina Louf]], the witness X1 in the [[Marc Dutroux]] investigation, in Ghent. The paper reported that Louf told investigators that from the age of twelve she had been "given" by her parents to a family friend of that name who had a key to their house; that her parents had told police that a family friend in his forties of that name had a key to their home and unlimited access to their twelve-year-old daughter; and that he "had himself admitted his relationship with Louf to police." It wrote that he was living on the border of Belgium and the Netherlands and had not been prosecuted.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
*La Dernière Heure* reported in 2020 that he had admitted sexual relations with Louf when she was twelve and he was thirty-nine, and that her mother had acknowledged that at that time he had the key to the house and came when he wished. The paper wrote that Louf presents him as her pimp between the ages of thirteen and seventeen.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
The Senate proposal of October 9, 2000 states that on April 23, 1998, in a confrontation with Louf, a man it calls her "so-called protector" admitted that he had had sex with her when she was twelve, with her parents' knowledge, and had once lent her to others; the admission was not pursued because the acts were time-barred. The proposal does not name him.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### Louf's Account
|
||||
|
||||
Louf said that from about the age of twelve Van den Bogaert acted as her pimp, taking her from Ghent to parties in Brussels attended by [[Jean-Michel Nihoul]], to the [[Le Dolo]] club and to Amsterdam, and that he was present on the night of the 1984 murder of [[Christine Van Hees]].[^3] The prosecutors-general of Antwerp, Ghent and Brussels found on April 23, 1998, that "no proof could be found that Regina Louf could make any contribution whatsoever to these investigations."[^2]
|
||||
The writer S. Dovey wrote that Louf said that from about the age of twelve Van den Bogaert acted as her pimp, taking her from Ghent to parties in Brussels attended by [[Jean-Michel Nihoul]], to the [[Le Dolo]] club and to Amsterdam, and that he was present on the night of the 1984 murder of [[Christine Van Hees]].[^4] The prosecutors-general of Antwerp, Ghent and Brussels found on April 23, 1998, that "no proof could be found that Regina Louf could make any contribution whatsoever to these investigations."[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Frenkiel, Olenka. "Belgium's silent heart of darkness." *The Observer,* May 5, 2002. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/may/05/dutroux.featuresreview
|
||||
[^2]: Sénat de Belgique. Proposition visant à instituer une commission d'enquête parlementaire chargée d'enquêter sur l'éloignement de deux enquêteurs de la cellule d'enquête bruxelloise « Neufchâteau », déposée par M. Frans Lozie, Doc. 2-563/1, October 9, 2000. The proposal does not name the "so-called protector."
|
||||
[^3]: Dovey, S. *Eye of the Chickenhawk.* Thehotstar, 2023. Its statement that he died by suicide in 1995 is contradicted by *The Observer*'s 2002 report that he was living on the Belgian-Dutch border. Sole source for the passages so cited.
|
||||
[^2]: "Régina Louf, témoin X1 dans l'affaire Dutroux, brise le silence." *La Dernière Heure,* online, 2020; translated from the French. https://www.dhnet.be/actu/faits/regina-louf-temoin-x1-dans-l-affaire-dutroux-brise-le-silence-marc-dutroux-libere-je-m-y-prepare-5e652e1e9978e2051e15c16c
|
||||
[^3]: Sénat de Belgique. Proposition visant à instituer une commission d'enquête parlementaire chargée d'enquêter sur l'éloignement de deux enquêteurs de la cellule d'enquête bruxelloise « Neufchâteau », déposée par M. Frans Lozie, Doc. 2-563/1, October 9, 2000. The proposal does not name the "so-called protector."
|
||||
[^4]: Dovey, S. *Eye of the Chickenhawk.* Thehotstar, 2023. Its statement that he died by suicide in 1995 is contradicted by *The Observer*'s 2002 report that he was living on the Belgian-Dutch border.
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|
|
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|
|
@ -9,10 +9,17 @@ tags:
|
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- NewMexico
|
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- USA
|
||||
created: 2026-05-22
|
||||
updated: 2026-05-22
|
||||
summary: "Zachary Dosch, alias 'Moist Nigerian,' was an Albuquerque, New Mexico leader of Greggy's Cult who pleaded guilty in 2022 to cyberstalking and child pornography charges and faced further indictment in December 2025 in the Eastern District of New York alongside four co-defendants."
|
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updated: 2026-10-09
|
||||
summary: "Zachary Dosch is an Albuquerque, New Mexico leader of Greggy's Cult who pleaded guilty in 2022 to cyberstalking and child pornography charges and was indicted in December 2025 in the Eastern District of New York."
|
||||
born: 1999
|
||||
location: "Albuquerque, New Mexico"
|
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relations:
|
||||
- type: member_of
|
||||
with: "[[Greggy's Cult]]"
|
||||
role: "alleged leader"
|
||||
start: 2020-01
|
||||
end: 2021-01
|
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fn: 2
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
[[Zachary Dosch]], alias "Moist Nigerian," is a resident of [[Albuquerque, New Mexico]] and a named leader of [[Greggy's Cult]] (also called the Cult of Greg), the online child exploitation network that operated on [[Discord]] from approximately January 2020 through January 2021. He was born approximately 1999 and was 26 at the time of his December 2025 indictment.
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|
@ -27,11 +34,20 @@ Greggy's Cult directed minor victims to engage in sexually explicit and degradin
|
|||
|
||||
### Federal Charges (United States v. Bermudez, 1:25-cr-00361)
|
||||
|
||||
A federal grand jury in the [[Eastern District of New York]] returned an indictment unsealed on December 2, 2025, charging Dosch alongside [[Hector Bermudez]], [[Rumaldo Valdez]], [[David Brilhante]], and [[Camden Rodriguez]]. The case number is 1:25-cr-00361 (PKC). The 10-count indictment charged: engaging in a child exploitation enterprise, conspiracy to produce child pornography, conspiracy to receive and distribute child pornography, and conspiracy to communicate interstate threats. The alleged criminal conduct covered January 2020 through January 2021.[^2]
|
||||
A federal grand jury in the [[Eastern District of New York]] returned an indictment unsealed on December 2, 2025, charging Dosch alongside [[Hector Bermudez]], [[Rumaldo Valdez]], [[David Brilhante]], and [[Camden Rodriguez]], the four co-defendants named in the Justice Department's release. The case number is 1:25-cr-00361 (PKC). The 10-count indictment charged: engaging in a child exploitation enterprise, conspiracy to produce child pornography, conspiracy to receive and distribute child pornography, and conspiracy to communicate interstate threats. The alleged criminal conduct covered January 2020 through January 2021.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
No outcome had been publicly reported on Dosch's 2022 guilty plea sentencing or the new indictment as of May 2026.
|
||||
|
||||
### Arraignment and Detention
|
||||
|
||||
Dosch was arraigned in the Eastern District of New York on March 3, 2026 before Magistrate Judge [[Clay H. Kaminsky]], and entered not-guilty pleas on all counts. The court ordered him detained the same day, and the April 30, 2026 status conference recorded him as in custody.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
The government's December 10, 2025 motion states that Dosch was ordered detained in the [[District of New Mexico]] and committed to the Eastern District of New York on the New Mexico matter, case number 1:25-mj-4991 (D.N.M.).[^4] The same motion states that in June 2021 Dosch was arrested and charged in the District of New Mexico with child exploitation offenses, and that Greggy's Cult is believed to have disbanded at or shortly after that time.[^4] The December 2 detention letter states that Dosch's electronic devices and home contained dozens of videos of the sexual exploitation of children.[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: ABC News. "DOJ charges former Navy petty officer, 4 others for alleged roles in 'monstrous' online extortion group." December 2025. https://abcnews.com/US/doj-charges-former-navy-petty-officer-4-alleged/story?id=128072704
|
||||
[^2]: DOJ OPA. "Five Leaders of 'Greggy's Cult' Charged with Sexually Exploiting Children on the Internet." December 2025. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/five-leaders-greggys-cult-charged-sexually-exploiting-children-internet; United States v. Bermudez et al., 1:25-cr-00361 (PKC) (E.D.N.Y.). https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71984626/united-states-v-bermudez/
|
||||
[^3]: United States v. Bermudez et al., 1:25-cr-00361 (PKC) (E.D.N.Y.), CourtListener docket 71984626, minute entry of March 3, 2026 (arraignment, Magistrate Judge Clay H. Kaminsky), order of detention, entry 74; minute entry of April 30, 2026. https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71984626/united-states-v-bermudez/
|
||||
[^4]: Government's letter appealing the release order and moving to stay, ECF 26, December 10, 2025, text and footnote 3. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nyed.538956/gov.uscourts.nyed.538956.26.0.pdf
|
||||
[^5]: Letter from AUSA Antoinette N. Rangel and Trial Attorney Gwendelynn Bills requesting a permanent order of detention, ECF 14, December 2, 2025. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nyed.538956/gov.uscourts.nyed.538956.14.0.pdf
|
||||
|
|
|
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