They searched the apartment of a child rapist and found a boy locked in a closet | the Chronicle

A boy was released by German police after being discovered by chance while locked in a closet, during a search of the apartment of a 46-year-old man. The procedure of the security forces was implemented because the individual was suspected of distributing child pornography.

The event, as a result of which the minor was found to have been abused, occurred in December 2019 but became known in the last hours, regarding the closure of the trial against the perpetrator.

A municipal court in Bochum convicted the defendant, identified as Lars H., to nine years in prison followed by preventive detention, after having sentenced him to more than 400 counts of sexual abuse of minors, international media reported on Friday.

The victim found in a cabinet of the condemned was 13 years old when he disappeared from the center for homeless minors where he lived, in June 2017.

The court established that the man had met the boy on an online chat platform and that the minor had agreed to come to his apartment, located in the town of Recklinghausen.

A forensic spokesperson said the accused abused the boy at least 445 times, before being discovered by chance in December 2019.