Creator of website where Gisèle Pelicot’s husband recruited men to rape her arrested

The founder of Coco, a website where Frenchman Dominique Pelicot recruited strangers to rape his then wife, Gisèle, was arrested in a case that shook France.

Isaac Steidl, 44, is in judicial custody to be questioned due to his use of the website to commit acts such as rape, homicide and pedophiliabetween others.

The radio reports that Steidl, who resides outside France, agreed to return to the country to be questioned.

was closed by French authorities in June 2024, when an investigation of the site was launched under the suspicions against Dominique Pelicot72 years old.

The septuagenarian was last December for recruiting more than 80 men to rape his then-wife while she was unconscious due to .

Os abuses occurred for almost a decadebetween 2011 and 2020.

Os 50 men who were identified as rapiststhrough videos and photographs recorded by Dominique Pelicot himself, were also sentenced to prison terms of between three and 15 years.

Now, those responsible for the site also face justice as part of an investigation “against the organized crime“, as stated by the Paris Public Prosecutor’s Office (MP) cited by France Info 3.

“This platform was used to commit numerous crimes” as a “facilitator” for “acts of pedocriminality, pimping, prostitution, rape, sale of narcotics, ambushes or even homicides”, points out the MP.

Another known case involving Coco, in addition to , occurred in 2024, when a 22-year-old man was beaten to death by a group of young people after arranging a meeting, via the website, with a supposed girl.

The French press reports that Steidl created the site in 2003, with the help of his parentsinvesting two thousand euros in the project after graduating as a computer engineer.

The idea was to create a website for romantic datesbut Coco ended up becoming a den for pedophiles and drug dealers, among other criminals.

After Pelicot’s arrest, the French website was transferred to an online address registered in Guernsey, in the Channel Islands.

The police also froze five million euros in bank accounts associated with the website, in countries such as Hungary, Lithuania, Germany and the Netherlands.