Daniel Rece, the 44-year-old orthodox priest in the village of Coroana, Constanta County arrested this week by the Organized Crime Directorate (DIICOT) of Iasi prosecutors, is facing child porn charges. The pastor has been using at least a dozen fake Facebook and Instagram accounts registered as boys aged between 13 and 18.
During the investigation, DIICOT prosecutors discovered the names of Instagram accounts on an Orthodox Christian calendar in 2018 in the church where Daniel Rece performs his work.
The priest has been using these fake accounts to obtain sexually explicit pictures of minor girls, according to court sources cited by Ziare. He talked with the girls, told them how much he loved them, sent sexually explicit pictures, and asked in return images and video recordings showing their genitals. He also initiated a video call with a girl, but after she saw they weren’t the same age she blocked him on Instagram,” the sources say.
One of the minors has been living with her foster mother for nearly five years. After the mother discovered the explicit pictures she decided not to raise the youngster, so she ended up in a social services center.
Since he’s been using the internet to hide its identity, he also left traces: he used the same phone numbers and email addresses used for banking to log in to the fake Facebook and Instagram accounts. “He got caught very easily. He used the same IP address to log into the fake accounts,” sources cited by Ziare said. In addition, the girl who saw the vicar on the video call recognized him during the investigation.
The priest has been using the same email address to create accounts on various websites such as www.sfatulmedicului.ro where he left a message in reply to a post of a 15-year-old virgin girl stating that she should ask for his professional help to get deflowered. For further details read the full report published by Ziare.
If found guilty, the man faces a two to seven years prison sentence.
Title image: Parental Advisory label. Image source: npr.org
