Decision of the Court of Justice of Paraíba confirms preventive detention even after conviction for sexual exploitation of minors, last Saturday (21)
The Criminal Chamber of the Court of Justice of Paraíba (TJPB) denied, in a session held this Tuesday (24), the habeas corpus petition in favor of influencer Hytalo Santos and her husband, Israel Nata Vicente. With the decision, the The court maintains the preventive detention of the two, that already in the first instance last weekend. The final result of the trial was unanimous for the couple to remain in the prison system.
Initially, the score was 2 to 1 for maintaining the prison, with judges Ricardo Vital and Carlos Beltrão voting in favor of denying the appeal. Judge João Benedito, who initially voted to release the defendants, reviewed his position during the session and decided to follow his colleagues’ vote. Thus, the request for freedom was unanimously rejected.
The denial of habeas corpus occurs days after the first instance sentencedelivered last Saturday (21), which condemned the couple for crimes related to sexual exploitation of minors. Hytalo Santos received a sentence of 11 years and 4 months in prison, while Israel Vicente was sentenced to 8 years and 10 months.
The two have been in preventive detention since August last year, when they were the target of an operation investigating human trafficking and child exploitation. The accusations involve the exposure of children and adolescents on social networks and the production of inappropriate content.
Remember the case
Hytalo Santos and Israel Vicente were arrested in August last year in Carapicuíba, in the metropolitan region of São Paulo, in compliance with warrants issued by the 2nd Court of the District of Bayeux, in Paraíba.
The investigations that led to the arrests focus on crimes of human trafficking and child sexual exploitation.
Typified in the Penal Code, the penalty for human trafficking is imprisonment of 4 to 8 years, increased by a third to half if the crime is committed against a child or adolescent, and can reach 12 years in prison.
The two were the target of investigation by the Public Ministry of Paraíba on suspicion of exploit children and teenagers on social media. The case gained spotlight after a video by content creator Felca talk about adultization with complaints about influencers who abuse the image of children. One of the main names mentioned was Hytalo Santos.
Felca, in the video about adultization of children published last week, called Hytalo’s content “macabre circus”. Investigated by the Paraíba MP since 2024, he was banned from Instagram after Felca’s video.
Like her husband, Israel also had her Instagram account deactivated, just hours after publishing a message in defense of Hytalo.
Hytalo recorded dances with minors, many of them wearing little clothing, and made money by sharing the videos on social media. Over the years, he created a house called a “mansion” and took some children to live with him, with their parents’ permission.
The influencer nicknamed the group “children”most of whom were socially vulnerable young people, to whom he offered financial support, housing, food and education. In return, they appear in your content.
The influencer was also known for ostentation on the networkswhich included everything from distributing state-of-the-art cell phones to donating cars, houses and plastic surgeries to teenage “daughters”.
