Dear Blog Readers,
I am in the city of Padua in northern Italy where today I was covering the trial of the couchsurfing policeman, Dino Maglio. In the first day of the fast-track trial, the prosecutor asked for Maglio to be sent to prison for 7 years and 4 months for drugging and raping a 16-year-old Australian girl. We had to keep the story brief for AP, so here is a little behind-the-scenes version on a story of the dangerous effects of some forms of social media.
In March 2014, an Australian mother came to stay with Maglio with her two daughters, the older was 16. They had contacted Maglio through his profile on the “Couchsurfing website (www.couchsurfing.com)
Today the girl’s lawyer, Boris Dubini, told reporters outside the courtroom that Maglio had first given the 16-year-old girl alcohol and tranquilizers until she was a “rag doll”. He added, “she was reduced by the drug to a piece of meat to take sexual advantage of.”
Dubini explained that the next morning the Australian mother discovered her daughter naked in bed with Maglio acting lethargic as though she had been drugged. She took her girls and fled to the police in Venice.
But the Australian girl was apparently not the only one. Many young women looking for a cheap vacation in Italy had a similar brutal surprise when they used the couchsurfing.com website to find a place to stay in the northern Italian city of Padua.
The thirty-five-year-old Dino Maglio had a popular profile page on the website and attracted young female guests from all over the globe including Australia, Canada, Portugal, the US, Hong Kong and the Czech Republic. He used the nickname “Leonardo” on his profile and with his guests.
The website is designed to help people traveling on the cheap find places to stay for free and has millions of users. The website sounds convincing: “We envision a world made better by travel and travel made richer by connection. Couchsurfers share their lives with the people they encounter, fostering cultural exchange and mutual respect.”
“Cultural exchange and mutual respect” was not exactly what Maglio had in mind.
While in Padua, I had a chance to discuss this case at length with Alessia Cerantola, an investigative reporter with the website IRPI, Investigative Reporting Project Italy. Cerantola is part of a team of investigative reporters who have been collecting testimony from women who stayed with Maglio. She provided me with extensive information and several of the photos used in this post.
Maglio began in 2013, perhaps even earlier, having girls stay at his apartment. According to testimony gathered by IRPI from the young women, he took them around, plied them with compliments, took them out dancing and to dinner and late at night, back in his apartment, offered them his homemade wine or some tea. What the guests did not know is that the late night drinks were laced with narcotics intended to knock them into a stupor. While the young women were drugged out, Maglio allegedly raped them.
The first young woman to report anomalous behavior was from Portugal—she wrote a comment on the website review section. She told Cerantola’s team at IRPI that Maglio then contacted her by Facebook and threatened her that he would use his power as a policeman to create problems for her at border controls throughout Europe. He has made similar threats to a Asian girl. Undeterred, the Portuguese woman worked with IRPI to contact other young women who had left reviews and found that many had had similar experiences.
Alessia Cerantola told us that the IRPI team has now gathered similar stories of drugging and alleged rape from other countries including the Czech Republic, Hong Kong, and Canada with reports from over 10 women. She says now that more articles are being published about the case, even more women have contacted them.
Despite the complaints and investigation, Maglio managed to wiggle free and try again with new phone numbers, email addresses and profiles on the couch-surfing site.
Investigative Reporting Project Italy. www.irpi.eu
Cerantola explained that many of the young women were afraid to go to the Italian police because Maglio was a policeman. However, when they reported the incidents in their own countries, nothing was done. Medical checks weeks after the incidents did not confirm they had been raped, and in several countries, including Portugal and the Czech Republic according to Cerantola, police did not act. *** Only Scotland Yard, after receiving a report from a British woman, filed a report to the Italian police. Meanwhile Maglio, according to IRPI’s testimony, repeated his routine over and over again.
It was not until the Australian woman went to the police in March 2014 that Maglio got caught.
Police searched Maglio’s apartment and found pedophile pornography and an illegal gun. Maglio was arrested but then later released on bail. He was put under house arrest and ordered not to use the couch-surfing website again.
At the end of the month, lawyers say, the prosecutor sent police on a simple check of Maglio’s apartment to make sure he was obeying the house arrest. When police entered, they found Maglio with two other young women couch-surfers, one from Argentina and one from Armenia. Both young women were acting drugged out and said they felt nauseous. Maglio had managed to create a new couch-surfing profile under another false name and had already found new prey.
Maglio is now being held in the military prison Santa Maria Capua Vetere in southern Italy.
The couch-surfing website does provide a list of suggestions for safety, and has a “safety team” which reviews suspicious profiles and a place for couch-surfers to privately report negative experiences. Nevertheless, lawyers say, Dino Maglio did manage to quickly open a second profile after he was released on bail and within a few weeks have two new female couch-surfers. Clearly the couchsurfing safety net has a few holes in it.
Today Couchsurfing.com sent a representative to the trial and when today’s hearing was over the website released a statement from their CEO, Jennifer Bullock, to the press. It said:
“Couchsurfing applauds the courage of the women who have chosen to speak out in the interest of seeing justice served. Our hearts are with them today. We have cooperated – and will continue to cooperate – with local law enforcement officials in their investigation of these allegations, and offer these brave women our heartfelt support.
FINAL NOTE:
Alessia Cerantola of Investigative Reporting Project Italy told me that more young women continue to report similar incidents to them. If any blog readers have something similar to report, they should contact the www.irpi.eu or Alessia and the other IRPI investigative reporters directly at
alessia.cerantola@gmail.com
cecilia.anesi@irpi.eu
giulio.rubino@gmail.com
https://irpi.eu/irpileaks/
***UPDATE from Alessia Cerantola
Below is extra information that Alessia Cerantola provided me after I published this post. The names she uses have been changed to protect the young women.
“On September 29th, 2013, Marcia, the Portuguese girl, reported “Leonardo Maglio” to the Portuguese police in a small town near Porto. Then the three Czech girls went to the police but they were told it was too late and they could do nothing from where they were. They tried through the Czech Embassy in Rome but with only a vague reply. Then Oliwia from Poland went to the local prosecutor in her town without any success. It was later discovered two other Polish girls, Emma and Amalia, had reported Dino Maglio’s behavior in August 2013 in Austria. According to Cerantola, these girls told them the following, “It was awful, scary and embarrassing. The police did not take us seriously. I was trying to hold back tears. We were asked why we didn’t report this in Italy. We said we were scared since he was a police officer. Austrian police said they could do nothing as none of the individuals involved were Austrian citizens.”
Wow this is just both disgusting and terrifying! I have never heard of couchsurfing.com but I don’t think it is anything I would ever have wanted to attempt. Having traveled a great deal on my own, I am very conscious of the safety factor and even when I rent an apartment while on vacation always rent through a reputable agency, though safety always steers me to a safe hotel in a safe location. I think I have learned that your health and safety are priceless and you cannot cut costs when that is involved. My heart goes out to these women – I hope this guy rots. Thanks Trisha for another illuminating article! I learn so much from you!!
Isn’t it terrifying! As a mother of two teenage girls, I just gasped in horror when I first heard about this story. I can imagine the temptation of students, traveling on the cheap, to want to take advantage of a free place to sleep. The website apparently is extremely popular and used by millions of people. In their safety tips they suggest that women stay with other women or with families. All good advice, but I guess these women did not take it. Interestingly though, almost all the women/girls he took in were not travelling alone — there were often several women together and he drugged them all. Scary.
But then again when I read the profile, single 35 year old guy living alone renting his couch out to women…yeah, that does not scream “ulterior motive.” Am I right – that’s what I would see as the underlying message. Maybe I’m just overly suspicious….
I think that maybe that is part of the couchsurfing experience– some young people do want to go for opportunities to hook up with someone. But what do I know…I’m too old!
Ewww hook up with HIM??? Look at him – he’s GROSS!
Anonymous has released a post with a lot of info on Dino Maglio, including all his social profiles.
Please go check it now, you’ll find links to his facebook, google+, youtube, accounts and many others.
https://www.facebook.com/anonymousforjustice/posts/432751743540732:0
Hi Trisha
I’ve heard about this via travel forums – Lonely Planet were discussing it earlier this month.
I’m glad this was all uncovered but it begs the question. Why was a mother with teenage daughters couch surfing in the first place. I simply don’t understand that logic.Clearly the mother was unaware her daughter was drugged as if she were awake she would have noticed her daughter becoming drowsy very quickly.
In no way am I ‘victim blaming’ but as a parent I am just completely *baffled* as to the actions of the mother. Stay in a hotel. There are plenty of cheap options – and if you’re travelling with teenage girls and in the company of a single male in a couch surfing situation – stay up! supervise! I wouldn’t care if he was the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. If you don’t know the person then don’t trust them.
Thanks for the update on this story, Trisha and good to know he is being dealt with by the law.
Hi Kathy — great to hear from you. I also was a bit surprised at the mother taking her two young daughters couch-surfing — and perhaps she was foolish to live her 16-year-old alone with Dino Maglio, however, I am also grateful for her because she saved the day by being the only one who went immediately to the police and reporting it thereby forcing action to be taken. She also had the advantage of not having been drugged herself. In so many of the other girls stories, they woke up drowsy, confused, lethargic, nauseous and weren’t really sure what happened. Many were afraid of going to the police because Dino Maglio was a policeman. Who knows how many women were abused by him. The investigators at IRPI, and also some people in the neighborhood where his apartment was told me that he was particularly fond of Asian women, yet hardly any Asian women have spoken up – there are cultural issues there too I imagine of being ashamed. Anyway, I agree with you, as a parent, I see the photos of that guy and all my alarm bells go off.
What a terrifying experience! It’s painful to even just read about it, but it’s so important to let people know what can happen and how to protect ourselves. I guess one of the big problems with social media in general is that they give a false sense of security: you read about someone and if they ‘seem nice’, that’s all we need to trust them. While the reality is that everybody makes themselves appealing on social media and while sometimes it’s innocent, in cases such as this one it’s pure criminal intent. Thank you for this article, I hope victims find the courage to speak up and justice will be done.
Thank you Marta. One of the reasons I was eager to do this story is that I think it needs to be told. The information needs to be shared. People need to know how easy it was for this guy to get back into the website and create new profiles. It is a cautionary tale. I am not denouncing Couchsurfing, although I am sure they can see for themselves the weaknesses in their system, but I think the more we all know about it the better. What really bothers me is that many of the young women tried to report the incidences and were ignored.
Wonder if there will be civil suits in the US. I think couchsurfing can be an awesome experience (though I’ve never done it). We actually were looking at it for our upcoming trip this year and the reviews I read said Morocco is the worst country for it — mostly scammers (not rapists), but either way, we’ll stick with hotels.
Yikes! I can imagine there might be some challenges in Morocco. I have traveled a lot and you meet hospitable, kind, generous people all over the globe. I think it is easier to judge when you actually meet people in person– the couchsurfing concept is great — but it seems to me there is a lot of room for scammers, perverts and others.
Thank goodness this creep is now behind bars but it does make me wonder how many other women get a little more than they bargained for when couch surfing and travelling generally. Its one of the reasons that I’m very cautious when meeting new men, which is a shame cos most are lovely. I hope this man gets a decent sentence, but something tells me it won’t stop him once he gets out. Lets be safe out there everyone! Great post Trisha!
Your right Liz. Yesterday the Prosecutor asked for seven years and 4 months but several people have already said to me exactly what you did — and who is going to stop him when he comes out???
What a story. As you say, the concept is great, but there is SO much room for abuse. We have seen the same thing with Uber and other services for the traveling public. As much as I cringe at “government regulation”, it has its place, and protection of naive travelers, and by extension the tourist industry as a whole, is one of them. To think that unsuspecting young people are so terribly taken advantage of just breaks my heart. A population ripe for the picking – excited, young and ready for adventure, it’s a con artist’s dream. I do hope the victims will be able to overcome the trauma and move on, but the betrayal here is just monumental. Thanks for shining good old disinfectant sunlight on this one, Trisha.
Thanks Adri. I was thinking about some of the exciting trips I took in my 20s — the Philippines, India etc.– the nice people I met up with and the risks I took. I can imagine if couchsurfing had existed back them, I might have used it. But as you say, there is so much room for abuse. I am glad that more women are coming forward on this one and hoping that couchsurfing.com can find better ways of stopping abusers.
. . the levels of depravity in some people is astonishing to ‘normal’ folks. What should be a fun and insightful way of exploring is transformed into a damaging lottery for the naive.
I like the way you put that Alan “a lottery for the naive.” How true.
How low can one man go? Repugnant.
Very, very low. Yes, he is repugnant.
Wow. What a tale. Couch surfing is something I hadn’t heard of, but it would be the last thing I’d do on a trip, and definitely would steer any daughter of mine from doing. I now wonder about some other sites, like air bob, that young people use all the time. I’ve used other sites, like VRBO.com but now I’m even second guessing that. What protection do you have? How do you know whether the people renting to you are ethical? I hope the creep stays in jail for a very long time. Thanks for informing us of this story. Again, you provide great information for those of us who don’t always follow the Italian news.
Thank you Linda. I agree with you, we all have to be a little more cautious about the websites we uses. It is so easy to be tempted by a great deal, maybe some fabulous photos, but as you say “what protection do you have?”. Very little. Over time I imagine systems will be developed that offer more protection, but clearly from this couch-surfing story, their safety system is not working.
Anonymous has released a post with a lot of info on Dino Maglio, including all his social profiles.
Please go check it now, you’ll find links to his facebook, google+, youtube, accounts and many others.
https://www.facebook.com/anonymousforjustice/posts/432751743540732:0