Trial for alleged rape of 16-year-old visitor from Australia prompts claims from other women who stayed with suspect in Padua

An Italian policeman used the host-a-traveller website Couchsurfing.com to lure young women to his home where he allegedly drugged and sexually assaulted them, according to people familiar with the case and the alleged victims.

Dino Maglio, a 35-year-old who lives in Padua and went by the name of Leonardo on his Couchsurfing profile, is facing trial in March accused of raping an Australian woman, who was 16 at the time of the alleged attack and was travelling with her mother and sister. According to prosecutors, he has admitted to drugging her with a tranquilliser and having intercourse even though he knew she was a minor.

The case has led to a succession of further claims from women who say they were assaulted by Maglio after using the popular website to arrange to stay with him. Three more cases are being investigated by the chief prosecutor in the case, who has also received statements from six other women saying they were abused.

The statements were collected by journalists at the Investigative Reporting Project Italy (IRPI).

The case raises new questions about the safety of Couchsurfing, a social media website that says it is trying to foster “a world made better by travel and travel made richer by connection”. Although popular with many travellers who use the site to find a free bed, warm meal and new friends, there have been claims of links to several alleged sexual assaults over the years, including the rape of a Hong Kong tourist in Leeds in 2009.

Jennifer Billock, the company’s chief executive, said users’ safety was a top priority and that it was constantly “evolving our tools and processes to find and halt abusers of our system”.

“We’re reminded that these women could have been any of us, our friends or family,” she told the Guardian.

She added that members were encouraged to look for verified profiles with multiple positive references, that they ought to have a backup plan when travelling, and to trust their instincts if a situation “doesn’t feel right”.

In the case of Maglio, an alleged victim said he told her that Couchsurfing had closed his profile because he had so many positive reviews, so he opened a new one.

The testimonies collected by IRPI reveal a chilling tale of a man who seemed like a fun, fast-living host, but apparently turned out to be something else altogether.

Some say the more time they spent with him, the more they felt worried about Maglio’s behaviour, including his constant compliments and insistence that they drink with him while they were out together. However, they also felt there was safety in numbers, since none were travelling alone.

After returning to his home on their first or second night with him, the women say they were served drinks such as tea or wine. Soon after that, in separate episodes over 12 months from March 2013 until Maglio’s arrest a year later, the women recalled feeling suddenly woozy and intensely tired, and having brief moments of awareness before losing consciousness.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Dino Maglio in a photograph supplied by an alleged victim. The image has been doctored to hide the visitors’ identity. Photograph: Investigative Reporting Project Italy

In the case of the alleged rape of the Australian visitor, prosecutors say Maglio has admitted spiking a drink with a sedative and having intercourse. Asked why he had slipped a pill into a glass of Baileys liqueur, he told investigators: “I am stupid, there was no real reason.” He said he believed the sex was consensual and that she “never said no”. He also told investigators that he had never had a similar experience and that he had joined Couchsurfing to practise his English because it would help him professionally.

Maglio’s lawyer said via text message that he was not fully aware of the additional cases against his client. He did not respond to multiple attempts to speak to him. But the victim statements contradict his assertion that the alleged rape of the Australian visitor was a one-off.

One Canadian woman recalls trying to rouse three other female visitors staying with Maglio after she discovered them passed out. She says she could barely stay awake herself and eventually fell into a deep stupor.

“None of them would respond to me. I remember feeling so scared,” she recalled. “I do not remember anything besides trying to pack and thinking we needed to get out of there.”

Some say they have hazy memories of being kissed and fondled by Maglio, but of being unable to protest. Others feared they had been slipped a drug and only days later wondered what, if anything, he had done while they were passed out.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Dino Maglio in a photograph supplied by an alleged victim. The image has been doctored to hide the visitors’ identity. Photograph: Investigative Reporting Project Italy

In one case, three young women from Czech Republic say they could not recall what happened to them after each drank a glass of Maglio’s wine, except for brief flashes of Maglio allegedly kissing and touching them. When they woke up, they vomited and “stayed confused for three more days”, even after they had left Padua.

Another user of Couchsurfing from Hong Kong, who claimed she was unconscious for 12 hours after allegedly drinking a glass of Maglio’s wine, posted a negative review on his Couchsurfing profile. The following day, he sent her a threatening message over Facebook allegedly demanding she remove the review, and said that if she refused he would use his authority as a police officer to create “trouble” for her on her next visit to Europe. She says she ignored the alleged threat and soon began receiving messages from strangers who had had similar experiences with Maglio.

“It took me some days to realise I was sexually abused,” the alleged victim from Poland told IRPI. “So I wrote to him on Facebook. I asked him what happened and he admitted we had sex. I felt like a whore. I felt nobody would ever want me again after this.”

She added: “He made me think it was my fault, that I wanted it.”

Maglio is being held in a military prison and not a prison for civilians for his own protection. The police unit, or carabiniere, said he had been suspended from duty following his detention. A police search of his home found that Maglio had a gun – he was charged with illegal possession – and copious amounts of pornography and child abuse images.

According to court papers, on the day they raided his home, Maglio was hosting two other Couchsurfing tourists, with one showing the same “sickness” as other alleged victims.

Additional reporting: Alessia Cerantola

Victim statements



Catherine* was 16 when she went to Italy with her mother and younger sister. They stayed with Maglio in his house. She slept in the guest room.

She describes feeling as though she were “sleep-walking”, when she saw Maglio undress her. She later told police investigators that she felt exhausted, disorientated and confused while he abused her, and has only intermittent memories of what happened. She says it was only when her mother discovered her without her underwear the next morning that she realised it hadn’t been a dream.

She remembers him performing oral sex on her, but says she could hardly open her eyes. She says she tried to stop him but he kissed her on the mouth to stop her from screaming.

He then raped her, saying “I can’t stop because you are too beautiful”.

American student Carmen* went to Italy as part of a European trip in her Easter holidays. She was 20 years old, and travelling on her own. Couchsurfing offered a cheap alternative to hostels, and she had used the website before.

‘I checked [Leonardo Maglio’s] profile. It was long and detailed … It said he was a police officer. He looked like a nice guy.’

She agreed to stay with Maglio, and initially says she didn’t feel threatened. She told him she had a boyfriend so he didn’t “get the wrong idea”.

On her last night Maglio gave her a tea that she now thinks had been drugged. “After the tea I sat down and must have fallen asleep.

“I got up to go to the toilet but felt weird. I felt my legs weak, like I was drunk, but I hadn’t drunk anything. [...] I got back to bed and fell asleep immediately.” Assuming she was ill, Carmen allowed Maglio to take her blood pressure and temperature. He told her he had studied medicine before entering the police force.

It was while she was in what she describes as “such a lethargic state” that Maglio began to sexually abuse her. “I couldn’t do anything to fight it… I remember clearly I could see my naked legs, and my knees folded towards my chest”.

Maglio performed oral sex on Carmen before raping her. “He said, ‘I can’t stop, I can’t resist’”. Although she remembers some moments clearly, others are a blur. “Considering the condition I was in I couldn’t possibly have agreed to have sex or perform sexual acts … [He] obviously knew there was something wrong with me but he kept on having sex with me … I believe I have been raped.”

She says she didn’t wake up until the next morning when she found Maglio wearing only a T-shirt with his hand on her stomach. She allegedly pushed him away when he tried to kiss her again.

She notified the police after sharing her experience with some friends when she returned to the UK.

*names changed

Facebook Twitter Pinterest The Couchsurfing profile of Dino Maglio, who went by the name Leonardo. Photograph: Investigative Reporting Project Italy

The website

Couchsurfing.com was the brainchild of Casey Fenton, a programmer and former political consultant, who launched it in 2003 after an email to university students in Iceland about an impending trip yielded 100 invitations to host him.

The concept is straightforward: hosts are meant to offer their home and their company. In exchange, guests should be engaged and open to friendship. In the early days, the group’s mission statement was: “Participate in creating a better world, one couch at a time.”

Although it started out as a non-profit, it changed direction in 2011, becoming a for-profit “B corporation” meant to benefit shareholders and the public interest. The move outraged some users who had embraced its idealist spirit.

Now it claims to have 10 million members, and has raised $22.5m (£14.5m) in venture capital funds. Chief executive Jennifer Billock says the group takes safety “very seriously”. The issue is handled internally, by “several” of the website’s 20-person staff. The website declined to offer details about its security procedures, because it said doing so would risk the safety of its users.

Stephanie Kirchgaessner

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Dino Maglio’s first-floor flat in Padua. Photograph: Investigative Reporting Project Italy

This investigation was carried out by the reporters of IRPI in collaboration with the Guardian.

IRPI is keen to receive leaks from women who can recall similar experiences. Testimonies can be sent to their whistleblowing platform Irpileaks.

