The judge issued a coercive measure against all those involved in the network.
SANTO DOMINGO.- On Thursday night, Judge Rigoberto Sena of the Permanent Attention Office of the National District ordered 18 months of preventive detention against Emmanuel Rivera Ledesma, the main suspect in the alleged real estate fraud network, a measure he will serve at the Najayo-Hombres Correctional and Rehabilitation Center (CCR).
After assessing the court's decision, the prosecutor from the Public Ministry, Sourelly Jáquez, reported that the body is in the process of questioning five other real estate sellers from the projects promoted by Rivera Ledesma.
After 10:30 PM, the magistrate imposed the same measure on Eduardo Rivera Pichardo, son of the man the Public Ministry identifies as the ringleader of the dismantled "Operation Nest" network, in which those involved allegedly deceived more than 300 people with an amount that, according to the prosecution's file, exceeds RD$700 million.
Mirna Catalina Rivera Ledesma, as well as Juan Omar Rosario López, were ordered to pretrial detention for 18 months, in Najayo-Women and Najayo-Men, respectively.
Judge Sena imposed house arrest, electronic ankle monitor, and a three million peso bond as a precautionary measure on María Gabriela Rivera Pichardo, Rivera's daughter.
The witness for the Public Ministry, Reilin Arismendy Rosario García, was placed under house arrest, required to appear periodically, and given an electronic ankle monitor.
Meanwhile, for Rivera Ledesma's wife, Escarlet Mercedes Cruz Figueroa, house arrest, a financial guarantee of five million pesos, to be paid through an insurance company, as well as an electronic ankle monitor and a ban on leaving the country.
MP values decision
The prosecutor from the Public Ministry, Sourelly Jáquez, praised the court's decision as "fair," after it accepted most of what the prosecution had requested.
“The judge said that the coercive measure is quite serious, with sufficient evidence, not only documentary, but also expert,” Jáquez stated.
He also emphasized that those who were not held in pretrial detention as a coercive measure were given other sanctions contemplated in the code, because their condition "was minor".
Jáquez stated that the Public Prosecutor's Office is in the process of questioning five other real estate sellers from the projects promoted by Rivera Ledesma.
Similarly, he reported that the agency has begun to recover real estate belonging to the network, which will be placed under the custody of the Public Prosecutor's Office.
According to the Public Prosecutor's file, which exceeds 400 pages, the network allegedly sold the same property multiple times, a fact reported by several of the alleged victims. Reilin Arismendy Rosario García, one of the individuals involved who has cooperated with the Public Prosecutor's Office, revealed that a 14-apartment building was sold 31 times.
The document from the prosecuting body states that the network did not have the corresponding permits to build the projects and in some cases did not even own the land.
Most of the victims are Dominicans living abroad, whom the network allegedly defrauded of large sums of money.
Candles for prison
Before the judge issued his decision, dozens of people claiming to be victims of the alleged network filled part of the area surrounding the Palace of Justice in Ciudad Nueva, with banners and candles, demanding preventive detention as a precautionary measure for the accused.
