Federal Judge Orders Seizure of Phones in Controversial Case Involving Missing Boy and Alleged Bribery

Laudelina Peña

By order of federal judge Cristina Pozzer Penzo, Federal Police officials seized two cell phones from José Codazzi, the lawyer who accompanied Laudelina Peña to a provincial prosecutor’s office to testify about the alleged accident in which her nephew Loan died, who has been missing since June 13. The order was prompted by a request from the case’s prosecutors, Mariano De Guzmán, Alejandra Mangano, and Marcelo Colombo.

The woman, who remains incarcerated in the women’s prison in Ezeiza for the alleged abduction and concealment of the minor, later stated that she gave that testimony under duress from Codazzi, who allegedly paid her 50,000 pesos for that act.

In her latest interrogation before the judge, Laudelina pointed him out as the mastermind behind establishing the hypothesis that Loan had been run over by retired naval captain Carlos Guido Pérez and his wife María Victoria Caillava, who are also accused in the case.

Sources detailed that the seized phones are an iPhone and a Samsung model.

Macarena, the daughter of Laudelina Peña,

“I had nothing to do with the accident, it was the lawyer who came to my house. He threatened both me and my daughter. It was on the morning of the 27th or 28th. He appeared again saying that we both had to go testify. He returned that same afternoon, made us a video showing us how the testimony should be, and said that if we didn’t, we would still end up in prison,” Laudelina said last week while expanding her statement before Pozzer Penzo.

“Then he picked us up in a car he was driving with another bearded man, took us both to where we had to testify; on the way, he told us he was taking us to Corrientes. Then he changed cars and put us in a van. In Corrientes, another fat man got in, who said ‘he was going to fix everything’ (sic) and promised us a house, a motorcycle, and even a car,” continued Loan’s aunt.

And she continued: “He took us to a lodging place, guarded by a civilian who said he was a police officer, and left us there until 2. From there, he took us to the court to testify accompanied by the other two. I had to testify what he taught us; I was scared for my daughter (Macarena).”

“From there I testified; they took us back to the lodging, fed us dinner, and kept us there like captives. On Sunday night, there was a commotion (sic) that the police had to take us out of. From there, they took us to another man’s house; they gave me 50,000 pesos that I had in the pocket of my jacket that I wanted to give to the judge, but I couldn’t,” she concluded.

The case investigating Laudelina’s complaint is under the care of Mariano De Guzmán, federal prosecutor of Goya.

On the other hand, Pozzer Penzo requested the General Directorate of Crimes Against Personal Freedom of the Argentine Federal Police and the Cyber Crime High Technology Investigations Center to conduct the analysis of the data extracted from seven cell phones in a “very urgent and priority” manner to be completed within a period of 72 hours.

These are the phones of the 9 de Julio police officers Orlando Ezequiel Cáceres, Eduardo Rafael Torres, Hugo Alegre, and Mariano Hernán Duarte. Additionally, two other devices belonging to Maciel and Camila Núñez, Loan’s cousin will also be analyzed.