Judge to probe parent at center of “Nadia” case for child porn offenses

In a case that has received a huge amount of media attention in Spain, Fernando Blanco and his wife Marga Garau were arrested in December on suspicion of fraudulently raising money through media campaigns to pay for what they said were cutting-edge treatments for their 11-year-old daughter Nadia Nerea, who suffers from trichothiodystrophy (TTD), a rare disease that can delay development and lead to significant intellectual disability and recurrent infections. Severely affected individuals may not survive beyond early childhood.

The possibility that the campaigns were a scam was uncovered by EL PAÍS and a number of other media outlets, which revealed inconsistencies in Blanco’s story. Original reports put the sum of money obtained by Blanco and his wife for their daughter’s treatments at around €300,000 – including €153,000 in just four days during a recent publicity campaign – but police in Spain’s Catalonia region later said the figure was closer to €918,000.

Investigators have concluded that Blanco and Garau were living off the donations, as they were both unemployed. Blanco has a history of fraud and has served prison terms for swindling his employers.

The latest revelation in the ongoing story came on Tuesday, when the investigating judge released a statement saying that the images found by the Catalan regional police force of the young girl “are not just a simple suspicion, but proof and evidence of clear and objective signs of the participation of a person under investigation (the father) in the commission of the aforementioned offenses.”

The magistrate took the decision after the authorities found the images on the device, which had been seized during searches of the couple’s family home, according to police sources. The Catalan force advised the judge that the photos could be evidence of “possession of child pornography,” as well as several other offenses.

Nadia’s father has been in custody since December, while he is investigated for fraud. The judge has set a civil bond for his release of €1.2 million. Her mother, meanwhile, has had her custody of the child suspended.

Wiretaps of conversations between the couple show Blanco was considering escape just hours before the Catalan regional police located and arrested him on December 7 in La Seu d’Urgell.