The mosso d'esquadra and crime novel writer, Daniel Santiño, 48, is the detainee accused of touching a disabled woman. This Thursday he has gone to court accused of a crime of sexual assault and the examining magistrate 5 of L'Hospitalet has ordered his release but has imposed a restraining order on the victim. The General Commission for Internal Investigation and Disciplinary Affairs arrested the agent last Tuesday at his home in Masquefa, as La Vanguardia reported yesterday. Santiño won the L'Hospitalet Confidencial International Black Novel Award with his first novel, The Opium Crimes. This year his second novel, Insidia, was released.
The defendant posed as a forensic doctor and appeared in a white coat at the home of a woman whom he had met two days earlier when he had filed a complaint for injuries at the L'Hospitalet police station. Last Friday the woman went to the police center to report that a neighbor of hers had assaulted her. At police stations, the person in charge of collecting her data was Santiño and, according to the complainant, he offered to give her a massage. The complaint ended up being finally collected by another mossa d'esquadra.
On Sunday the woman called the Mossos again due to problems with her neighbor. This time she denounced that she had threatened her. Through the police station, the mosso heard the woman's new warning and when the shift ended she decided to go to her house to inquire about her condition. However, according to the complainant, he posed as a forensic doctor and said that he should explore the injuries that he caused. They went to a room where they stayed for about thirty minutes. There he took the opportunity to touch her breasts and genitals, according to the complaint. After the events, the woman went to the police station to denounce this man and the next day he was arrested. Santiño was investigated years ago on two occasions for crimes of a sexual nature that were archived.
The General Directorate of Police has suspended the agent from employment and salary. Before the judge, the arrested man only responded to questions from his lawyer to deny the facts attributed to him. The Mossos investigators have asked the judge for the positioning of the agent's mobile phone to find out if his location coincides with the victim's home.
