First as “Burlão do amor” then as “Rambo de Mértola”. Oaths of love surrendered 170 thousand euros to scammer. Defendant under house arrest will be tried at the Beja Court.
Seductive, easy talk, always well dressed, powerful cars, affective commitment conversations, this was how the “Love con artist” presented himself to women. After gaining his trust, he assumed a menacing posture, aggressive and very violent, which earned him the nickname “Rambo de Mértola”.
With this stance, Paulo Alexandre Santos, of 56 year old, who was detained by inspectors from the Southern Directorate of the Judiciary Police (PJ) in 5 of April last year within the scope of the “Imperfect Loves” operation, is defined as “having an extremely violent and manipulative personality”, deceived two Portuguese women, who in cash and bank transfers gave him about 170.000 euros.
In the PJ operation, which involved house searches on a hill in the municipality of Mértola and a house in São Pedro do Estoril, Two firearms and a replica were seized, cold steel, three fake driving licenses, three vehicles, two of them branded Jaguar, narcotic steroids/anabolic steroids and a large amount of money, all in cash.
The individual who is under house arrest, He was accused by prosecutors (MP) Beja, seven crimes: two for domestic violence and one each for computer fraud, breach of trust document forgery, minor trafficking and possession of a prohibited weapon. The case targeting the false driving licenses was filed.
Paulo Alexandre Santos first courted women, and then convinced them to move to Monte José das Neves, Parish of Santa de Cambas, municipality of Mértola, with the promise of being the place where they would “live a life together”. Said property was in the name of the woman he was married to, in the community of acquired regime, but that he enjoyed it as his own. As it was a place far from the eyes of the neighbors, the defendant used the place to rape the women without being disturbed.
The investigation began after the last of the victims of the “Burlão do amor” pranks fled the mountain and filed a complaint with the authorities.. As the victim was a cocaine user and addict, the defendant presented himself as his “savior”, and who would “take her off drugs and save her life”. In June 2020, the woman saw the worst in the individual when he acted like the “Rambo of Mértola”, having forced her to play the game of “Russian Roulette” with a revolver. The defendant placed an ammunition in the chamber, forcing the woman to turn the drum and press the kitten with the gun to her head. As the ammunition was not placed in the chamber, the gun did not fire, the man took the ammunition out of the revolver and gave it to the offended party, telling her: “keep the bullet as a souvenir, as proof that you didn't die.". This woman was left without 30.000 euros in cash.
The first victim was a woman who lived in Bayonne, in France, from 1982 and that from September 2017 began to maintain a romantic relationship with the accused. Believing in his promises, the victim suffered losses of about 140 thousand euros, 55 thousand of which were destined for “rehabilitation works on the hill” that were never carried out. In April 2018 the woman suffered one of the biggest scares of her troubled relationship, when he refused to hand over more money to Paulo Gonçalves Santos. The defendant went to France and wearing a military uniform, appeared at the victim's home, pointed a pistol at him and told him "if you don't hand over the money you won't leave here".
The individual will be tried by a panel of judges at the Beja Court during the current month of January and risks an effective prison sentence of more than five years..
Teixeira Correia
(journalist)
