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A German who founded a children’s home for street girls and orphans has been arrested on suspicion of planning to sexually abuse pre-teenage Filipinas.

Leif Rothe, also known as Sunny Delgado, is accused by German authorities of offering to pay for sex with girls aged from nine to 12.

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Some confusion surrounds the arrest. The German press and the international news agency AP report that he was detained in his home country. However, a report on GMA News says a certain “Leef Roth” was arrested in Baybay City, Leyte, for running a cybersex den.

According to Bild, he was a long-time resident of Dumaguete, who moved to Cebu last year before recently returning to Germany. German prosecutors say he was preparing to come back to the Philippines next month.

The 52-year-old describes himself as the founder and chairman of the “HomeforGirls — Sunnylife”. His personal Facebook page includes numerous pictures of him surrounded by youngsters, who he sometimes describes as his “babies”.

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A website for the home is no longer online. However, Google continues to return search results that suggest it once provided individual profiles of the girls, detailing their ages and attributes.

According to community website dumaguete.info, he also volunteered as a soccer coach for various teams of schoolgirls.

The arrest of Rothe, from Frankfurt am Main, for “arranging and preparing of serious sexual abuse of children” followed a tip-off from the FBI.

Surveillance of his online activities suggested that he was offering a little under 500 Euros for sex with the children.

In addition, the father-of-one is accused of having procured more than 1,900 child pornographic images and video files, some depicting serious sexual abuse, via e-mail services.

According to the Bild, Rothe was arrested at his apartment on Tuesday (January 16) on the orders of Frankfurt’s public prosecutor.

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