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Argentina is shaken by a case of alleged sexual abuse of children involving well-known television figures including Jey Mammón, Marcelo Corazza, Marley and others. The Prosecutor's Office has already opened a criminal case to investigate the serious complaints, raids were made and there are several detainees.

Marcelo Corazza, Jey Mammón, Marley are some of the names that resonate in the media in Argentina due to the great scandal about sexual abuse of minors that came to light, after an investigation by the Prosecutor's Office.
There were wiretaps, raids and arrests in the framework of the case that dismantled a network of child corruption and human trafficking. The facts and details of the case are chilling. The investigations began with two complaints but now the prosecutor's file already has at least eleven stories from people who say they have been victims of this network of child abuse.

Marcelo Corazza

The scandal began to be known when last Monday, March 20, the Justice ordered the arrest of the former participant of the successful Argentine reality show, Big Brother and producer of the Telefé channel, Marcelo Corazza, in his house in San Fernando (Province of Buenos Aires) in the framework of an investigation for corruption of minors that had three other detainees.

These people are accused of "having formed an organization intended to recruit minors and adults in vulnerable situations, in order to subject them to the practice of sexual relations and sexual exploitation without their consent, whether for the exchange of money or for personal or third-party satisfaction," according to the Buenos Aires newspaper La Nación.

The same media reported that "the other defendants were identified as Andrés Fernando Charpenet, Raúl Ignacio Mermet and Francisco Rolando Angelotti, who is accused of being the head of the organization. According to the first reports, the group has been carrying out this criminal activity “for more than 20 years, both in the north of the country and in the province of Buenos Aires.”

There are several complaints against the network

The Buenos Aires newspaper, points out in its digital version that “the case was initiated as a result of the complaint of two people whose identity is reserved (currently of legal age) who said they had been victims when they were between 11 and 14 years old.

Likewise, it says that “the testimonies accumulated and there are already at least eleven stories of young people who suffered this situation in the city of Buenos Aires, the province of Buenos Aires and Misiones. The case file contains the suspicion that the abuses occurred in “private cars in Caballito, Parque Centenario, Plaza Miserere, Costanera Sur, a country house in Castelar, temporary shelters in the suburbs and private homes”

See the material from the program “Los Ángeles de la Mañana” LAM from América TV, a channel from Argentina!

Corazza would be a client of the organization

According to the Argentine media, investigators maintain that Angelotti would be the “leader of the organization who recruited minors, corrupted them and then inserted them into the world of prostitution, offering them to those who consume to obtain a profit from it.”
The initial suspicion is that Charpenet and Mermet were involved in the recruitment and exploitation of minors. Meanwhile, Corazza was mentioned by one of the victims for a case that occurred in 2001, after having won the reality show Gran Hermano.
Read more: Sexual abuse: what are the signs that a child was a victim
Who is Marcelo Corazza

La Nación of Buenos Aires, says that “Marcelo Corazza joined the reality show Gran Hermano at the age of 29 as a substitute, after Gustavo Jordurcha resigned. At that time, he was a physical education teacher and rugby coach.”
They also point out that “his television coronation opened the doors to various jobs on the small screen, including hosting the children's program Megatrix and the charity Dar es Dar. Shortly after, he joined the Telefé staff as a producer.”
The case of Lucas Benvenuto

After learning of Marcelo Corazza's arrest, the Argentine media managed to contact one of the victims, Lucas Benvenuto, a young skater who told the media in that country that for much of his life, he was the victim of a pedophile ring.
Benvenuto said that when he was 12 years old he was kidnapped for 9 months by a pedophile ring, and that when he got out, many abusers shared his contact information and tried to recruit him. It was in this way that Marcelo Corazza contacted him, reported the TN channel in its digital version.
In an interview with the program A la tarde, on América TV, Benvenuto said that during his captivity he suffered forced transfers, and said that for 9 months, he was held in the warehouse of a bookstore. There he suffered abuse by the owner of the place, and several years after these events, he discovered that his captor was filming him and selling the videos to Spain.
In the interview with the Argentine channel, he said that due to the drug addiction of his mother, who died at the age of 36, no one ever looked for him.

Jey Mammón

This scandal affected another well-known figure on Argentine television, the musician and host Juan Martín Rago, known as Jey Mammon, who at the beginning of 2020 had been reported by Benvenuto himself to the Prosecutor's Office of his country for alleged sexual abuse that had lasted for years, which had begun in 2006.
Benvenuto, who at the time of the alleged abuse was 14 years old, recounted the events in a 13-page complaint where he would have detailed each and every one of the events that occurred, from the moment he met the musician and host, and how the relationship between the two was.
The Argentine media Infobae, highlighted some of the most lurid details of the complaint. "The complainant said that he met Mammon through a mutual friend, an adult, and went to his house in Balvanera, for a first meeting. When he woke up, he realized that they were both naked. Benvenuto said that after spending the night at the driver's house he realized that he had signs on his body similar to those he experienced "the first time he was sexually abused." The victim's story, published by Infobae, continues saying that "A few days later my cell phone was stolen and I lost contact with him. One day, I went back to my friend's house and that older man was there again. He told me that that night there was a party in a rented place organized by Juan from the radio station that did an internet program called 'Gay Hermano'. The older man called Jey and told him in front of me that he had a 'little gift' to send him, that I just had to get them to let me in, because I had just turned 15."

The relationship between Benvenuto and the host

Infobae continues Lucas' story, saying that they went to the party. "His face when he saw me is something I will not forget. At 15 years old I thought it was a healthy attraction, love, the love that I always found outside my house in the wrong hands. Today as an adult I understood that he thought I had lost him and that he had the toy back in his hands. Because that is what we are, people who suffer. abuses”.
Regarding the duration of that relationship with Jey, Lucas wrote: “From the age of 14 to 20 my fluid relationship with Juan lasted. Afterwards it was emails and messages. After my mother died, two days before I turned 18, the relationship with Juan was not the same. I was devastated and did not want to see anyone. We continued to see each other, but in longer periods of time. We talked every so often,” says the Argentine media.
See the material from the program “Los Ángeles de la Mañana” LAM from América TV, a channel from Argentina!

Infobae points out, regarding the judicial case formed from the complaint, that “Judge Walter Candela decided to close the case due to prescription on March 9, 2021 after a ruling by prosecutor Patricio Lugones. The time to investigate the case had already run, with acts committed almost a decade before the law of respect for the times of the victims was passed.”
A life of abuse

Lucas began his complaint by giving a context of his life: “I had a mother who was sick, she had addiction problems. She died at 37 years old because her body could not take it anymore. Since I can remember, more or less 4 years, I saw my mother taking drugs. Since then, physical and sexual abuse began by family friends and my stepfather, who has since passed away,” Infobae points out.

The media indicates that when he met Mammon, “he had already been a victim of the “boy lovers” gang, headed by Jorge Corsi and made up of music teacher Marcelo Rocca Clement, who admitted his guilt and was imprisoned for corrupting Lucas.”
In the television interview, Benvenuto said: “My case will not be able to be reopened, there is no turning back. Everyone told me to go to trial for the truth. But in that trial there is no conviction, I will not be able to obtain a conviction. The only thing that will do is re-victimize me and go through that horrific thing that I lived through again. I believe that social condemnation is worth more than that crappy trial."

Jey Mammon's statement

“Juan Martín Drago, artistically known as Jey Mammon, shared a statement on social media on Wednesday to give his version of the accusation of sexual abuse of a minor that weighs on him. In the video, the host of La Peña de Morfi - now suspended by Telefe - indicated that he met Lucas Benvenuto in 2009, but denied other points of his testimony,” says La Nación of Buenos Aires.
“I did not rape, I did not abuse, I did not drug anyone, ever. Never in my life, I did not do it, nor would I do it, nor am I going to do it. I deny it categorically,” Mammon expressed through his Instagram account.
“I am going through, perhaps, the worst moment of my life,” said the Argentine host, who in turn said: “I do not know what will happen with my life. I am being the same as always. Whoever wants to, can accompany me and whoever does not, stays on the way.”
The difference between Benvenuto's complaint and Mammon's defense lies in a technicality that has to do with the age at which they began the relationship. According to the complainant, he would have been 14 years old, which according to the law would constitute a crime. According to the host, he would have been 16 years old, which would legally exempt him from responsibility.

What is the current status of the case?

The Argentine Prosecutor's Office continues to investigate the open criminal case and the possibility of the involvement of more people in the network of corruption of minors, based on the complaints of the victims.
Benvenuto himself mentioned that there is another "well-known host" from Telefe who would also be part of the scheme of abuse of minors.
According to the Argentine media, this host would be Marley, according to an expression of the victim who said that one of her abusers was another host from the same media as Mammon, "who travels around the world."
To date Marley has not been included in the prosecutor's file and has not referred to the issue in any media. However, according to Argentine media, Telefé has already cancelled the host's programs.