TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwanese police last month apprehended and assisted in extraditing a Spanish DJ for crimes he had committed in Italy 10 years ago, according to Taiwan’s Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB).
The fugitive, identified as Juan Testa Rodriguaz, 35, was tried in 2010 in an Italian court for kidnapping a female employee of his company and sexually assaulting her. He was convicted and sentenced to six years and two months for his crimes, but fled to Taiwan where he worked as a DJ, before finally being arrested by Taiwan's CIB in February.
From 2009 to 2010, Testa lived in Padua, Italy, where he set up a trading company, reported Il Gazzettino. However, police received a tip that his company was actually a front for a drug trading and sex trafficking operation.
On August 10, 2010, a 22-year-old female employee planned to expose his illegal operation. But before she could report his activities to the police, he learned of her plans and hatched a plot to kidnap her.
Testa. (TikTok screenshot)
He invited her to his place for dinner and once she arrived, he bound, beat, and raped her. He then held her captive as his "sex slave" for a week before she was finally able to escape.
After being tried and convicted for his crimes, Testa managed to flee the country and first hid out in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, according to the report. He then fled to Taiwan, which he considered a safe bet since the country does not have a formal extradition treaty with Italy.
The Spaniard then spent the next seven years working as a DJ in nightclubs in northern Taiwan. According to CT Want, he first started working as a DJ in nightclubs located in the ATT 4 Fun and Neo 19 malls in Taipei's Xinyi District.
On November 1, 2013, he returned to his apartment in Taipei's Zhongzheng District, where he encountered a French male having sex with his female friend. Infuriated, he savagely beat the man and was later sentenced to 20 days in prison for assault, according to the report.
Testa working as a DJ in a Taiwan nightclub. (Facebook photo)
In July of 2014, Testa inadvertently overcharged the battery for his e-bike, leading to an explosion and fire. The fire destroyed much of his rented apartment, as well as inflicting damage on his neighbor's residences.
He later was convicted for committing Offenses Against Public Safety (公共危險罪) and Causing Bodily Harm with Negligence (過失重傷害罪) and ordered to pay NT$2 million in compensatory damages.
In 2017, the fugitive began working as an outdoor DJ in Hutoushan Park in Taoyuan and began renting a luxury apartment in the city. Neighbors frequently observed large numbers of people entering his apartment and women frequently leaving battered and bruised.
The CIB told Taiwan News that Su Li-tsung (蘇立琮) of its International Criminal Affairs Division was contacted by an Italian police liaison officer in Thailand in late 2018 about a Spanish man who was the object of an INTERPOL Red Notice. He was told that the man was believed to be hiding out in Taiwan and the Italian officer requested his assistance in the search.
Testa (second from right). (CIB photo)
The CIB, the Taoyuan division of the National Immigration Agency, and the Taoyuan City Police Bureau formed a task force and invited the Italian liaison officer to come to Taiwan to assist with the search. Testa's movements were difficult to trace as he flew to multiple destinations over the years, but based on wire transfers his father sent to him and multiple visits to Taiwan, Italian police had concluded he lived in Taiwan.
In February, Taiwanese authorities were finally able to pinpoint Testas' location and raided his home on Feb. 11. However, as there were no direct flights from Taiwan to Italy amid the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19), the CIB coordinated with French police to have him board a flight to Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris on April 24.
Once on French soil, he was formally extradited to Italy on April 25. The CIB said the case was the first successful instance of cooperation between Taiwanese and Italian police, and it plans to continue to work with its Italian counterparts to combat crime and promote international cooperation in the spirit of "Taiwan can help and Taiwan is helping."
(Il Gazzettino screenshot)