A 32-year-old teacher substitute in Gävle faces charges for 50 counts of child rape committed remotely against 27 girls aged 9 to 14. The investigation began when one girl reported online abuse, leading police to trace the man via IP address and Snapchat. Prosecutor Mattias Vilhelmsson notes that the children often blame themselves.
The investigation started when a girl sought help for sexual abuse online. Using IP tracking and data from Snapchat, police identified the 32-year-old suspect from Gävle. A raid on his home led to the seizure of mobile phones and computers, where material from 26 additional girls was found. The 27 victims are aged 9 to 14, with 24 residing in Sweden and the others in Norway, Denmark, and Ireland.
The man is charged not only with the 50 child rapes but also with gross exploitation of children for sexual posing, sexual harassment, child pornography offenses, and sexual assault on children. The crimes occurred between 2020 and 2025. During this time, he worked as a substitute teacher at an elementary school in Gävle for a couple of years. According to the prosecutor, no reports from colleagues or students suggested any unusual behavior at work.
The man urged the girls to perform sexual acts on themselves, classified as rape and abuse. He employed tactics such as persistence, deception, and sometimes pretending to be someone else to persuade them. 'Children are generally very easy to deceive, which is one reason the age of sexual consent is 15', says Mattias Vilhelmsson. He adds: 'The children place a lot of blame on themselves'.
