Five Romanians sentenced to prison in the United Kingdom for sexually exploiting women

Five Romanians, four men and one woman, have been sentenced to prison for raping and sexually abusing ten women, whom they drugged and sexually exploited in the city of Dundee, Scotland.

The five Romanian citizens received sentences ranging between eight and twenty years in prison.

The group, led by 38-year-old Marian Cumpănășoiu, drugged and abused women aged between 16 and 30 in several apartments in the city between 2021 and 2022. The victims were lured with drugs and alcohol and were then forced to have sexual relations with members of the gang or to prostitute themselves.

Alongside Cumpănășoiu, those also convicted were Remus Stan (35), Cristian Urlățeanu (41), Cătălin Dobre (45), and Alexandra Bugonea (35), according to the police.

Following the trial at the High Court in Glasgow, the five were found guilty of more than 30 charges, including rape and human trafficking.

Cumpănășoiu, described by the judge as an “arrogant and smiling pimp,” received a 24-year sentence, of which 20 years are imprisonment and four years under supervision. Urlățeanu was sentenced to 20 years (18 years in custody and two years under supervision), Stan to 12 years, Dobre to 10 years, and Bugonea to eight years in prison.

Alexandra Bugonea, the only woman in the group, is said to have organized such parties in her apartment and to have participated in some of the assaults. In court, she denied the accusations.

Three of the convicts, namely Urlățeanu, Dobre, and Bugonea, had initially fled Scotland but were extradited from Belgium and the Czech Republic to stand trial. At the end of the trial, the judge imposed permanent contact bans between the convicts and their victims, and all five were placed on the sex offenders register.

British authorities stated that after serving their sentences, the five will most likely be deported to Romania.

During the court session, the judge said that the group members “exploited vulnerable women for their sexual pleasure and for financial gain,” adding that they had “minimized and denied their actions.”

During the investigation, police discovered that the group was trafficking women from Eastern Europe for prostitution, as well as recruiting local women addicted to drugs, to whom they offered illegal substances and money. Some victims were forced to bring their friends into the group.

(Photo source: Scotland.Police.UK)