Police took into custody a 43-year-old Frenchman who was noticed going in and out of an uptown hotel in Cebu City with different Filipina girls, including some young enough to be his daughters.
Two females, aged 14 and 19, were in his hotel room when police barged in after the foreigner was spotted bringing in girls yesterday afternoon.
Alex Lefur refused to answer questions of reporters.
He would just say “Nothing… nothing!” when asked for his statement.
Police said Lefur had been staying in the hotel for four days and had brought in at least 10 girls to his room.
Lefur was brought in for questioning in the anti-Cybercrime Group of the Cebu Provincial Police Office.
The Children’s Legal Bureau represented by lawyer Joan Saniel earlier alerted the police and asked for their assistance in the case.
Saniel and a social worker of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) accompanied the police during the operation.
The two teenage girls were placed under the care of DSWD’s Crisis Intervention Unit, according to Ligaya Dael of the DSWD.
The Frenchman was placed under surveillance since Thursday, said CG Central Visayas chief, Senior Inspector Michael Vertudazo.
Under Republic Act 7610, a special law on protection of children against child abuse, it is illegal for “Any person who shall keep or have in his company a minor, 12 years or younger or who is 10 years or more his junior in any public or private place, hotel, motel, beer joint, discotheque, cabaret, pension house, sauna or massage parlor, beach and/or other tourist resort or similar place” unless there are family ties or some other legal bond or obligation involved.
The penalty is a P50,000 fine and a jail term of prison mayor.
A graver violation of human trafficking is involved if it is proven that someone is recruiting women or children for prostitution or other forms of exploitation.
An unidentified man in the police office slammed the door shut when he saw Cebu Daily News photographer Lito Tecson taking photos of the Frenchman.
The hotel’s management told the police that they had warned the foreign guest against bringing minors into his room. The hotel security had likewise accosted some of the girls accompanying Lefur.
When policemen made the arrest however, Lefur was talking to the girls in his hotel room. He did not resist arrest.
Police confiscated his mobile phone and laptop.
One of the girls said she was 14 years old while the other said she was 19. They said they were both from Cebu City.