A former Houston Galleria employee has been arrested and charged after two male toddlers were alleged gang raped by at least seven men in bathrooms at the mall.
The FBI arrested Arthur Hector Fernandez III, 29, in December and charged him with sexual exploitation of children after videos allegedly filmed by Hernandez were found on a dark web forum by Australian child exploitation investigators.
Fernandez’s alleged private Instagram account contains two rainbow emojis, states he lives in Houston, and contains a Cash App ID.
No other arrests have been made.
Court document descriptions of four videos of the alleged group rapes are too graphic to publish, but involved two male toddlers aged two to three and were filmed in Galleria Mall restrooms with changing tables.
Magistrate judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas Andrew Edison described the evidence as “overwhelming” and “revolting” while ordering Fernandez be detained until trial, the Houston Chronicle reported.
The FBI said Fernandez was identified through relatives of the infants who recognised their clothing and silver bracelets allegedly worn by Fernandez, Fox News reported.
FBI Houston also allegedly found white low-top Converse All-Star shoes that were seen on the floor in one of the videos.
According to court documents a relative of one of the toddlers brought the child to work at Galleria Mall in May 2023, and Fernandez offered to look him while she worked.
Fernandez also offered to look after the second child in similar circumstances, court documents state, and looked after that toddler on two other occasions.
Both women had considered Fernandez their friend.
Galleria Mall is the largest in Texas, and the seventh largest in the US.
