Last Updated on June 29, 2022
Marthijn Uittenbogaard, a Dutch national who has called for pedophilia to be “de-stigmatized,” has been arrested in Ecuador on charges of sexually abusing “dozens” of children within the country. According to Reduxx, the 50-year-old was arrested outside of the town of Canoa after a brief manhunt.
The Transnational Crime Investigation Unit of the National Police of Ecuador arrested Uittenbogaard after receiving multiple reports.
Uittenbogaard allegedly lured several minors to his residence, many of whom would stay for extended periods of time. They were allegedly lured into the home under promises of playing video games, where they were then coerced into sex acts with promises of money and sweets.
The Dutch national is also accused of luring several minors to parties at his pool, where they were then groped and sexually assaulted.
Authorities recovered numerous devices that contained evidence of the abuse upon his arrest, authorities said.
“The pedophile’s capture is said to have been a direct result of the arrest of one of his colleagues in Mexico earlier this month,” Reduxx reported.
Nelson Maatman, a friend of Uittenbogaard who also wants to “de-stigmatize” pedophilia, was arrested in Mexico City earlier this month. An anonymous tip was handed to the Mexican prosecutor’s office indicating that he intended to purchase an adolescent and sell child sexual exploitation material, which led to his arrest on June 5.
Maatman was in possession of four terabytes of child sexual abuse material across a number of external storage devices, Reduxx reported. Maatman was also in possession of photos of children, a weapon, and drugs when he was apprehended.
Uittenbogaard was arrested along with his husband, Lesley, who previously had been imprisoned in their home country for creating child sexual abuse material. The pair were among a number of pro-pedophilia Dutch nationals who fled the Netherlands earlier this year.
Both Uittenbogaard and his husband fled the country after the former was convicted of operating a “pedophile organization” that was declared illegal in 2014.
Vereniging MARTIJN, a pro-pedophile activist group found by a convicted sex offender in 1982, was banned and dissolved by the Supreme Court of the Netherlands because its members promoted the sexual abuse of children, Reduxx reported.
MARTIJN is also reportedly responsible for compiling a 1,000-page “pedophile handbook,” which provides instructions on how to lure, groom, and sexually abuse children without their parents or authorities becoming aware. The organization was sued in 2010 — four years before the Dutch legal system took action — by the family of a young girl who had been sexually abused by one of its members.
Uittenbogaard had been the treasurer and chairman of MARTIJN, and was sentenced to four months in prison earlier this year for continued activity within the organization.
In 2011, Uittenbogaard told the Dutch public radio station NPO Funx that his preferred “age of attraction” was girls between the ages of six and 12.
“Children actually like it when they have someone who communicates with them at their level. That also has to do with sexuality, feelings and eroticism,” Uittenbogaard said. “Children can really enjoy cuddling and being physical. a certain place, then the whole mess breaks out, but that’s the western way of looking at sexuality.”
Uittenbogaard maintained a blog he regularly updated until April of this year. In his posts — which were published in Dutch and English — he likened the treatment of pedophiles to that of Jews during the holocaust.
