A 35-year-old Dutch professional volleyball player has been remanded in custody on suspicion of sexually abusing young boys and sending sexually explicit messages to hundreds of minors, the public prosecution service said during a preliminary court hearing in Groningen.
The player, who was active last season at Dynamo Apeldoorn and played for the Dutch national team last summer, has been in custody since December 9, the AD reported on Wednesday afternoon. Prosecutors say the case is unusually large and still in its early stages.
The prosecution department says the suspect abused a 10-year-old boy in Hoogkerk in 2024 and contacted hundreds of boys aged between eight and 17 online with sexually explicit messages.
He is also suspected of possessing large quantities of child pornography produced in Hoogkerk and Zwolle, and of sending sexual messages to a nine-year-old boy in Kollum, the AD said.
Prosecutors told the court that around 500 online conversations with minors have been identified so far, about 150 of which include images, the AD said. “This is a mega-case and the investigation is still at an early stage,” the prosecutor said, according to regional newspaper Dagblad van het Noorden.
The investigation began after a report from a parent of one of the alleged victims. The prosecution said it is still working to identify minors involved, starting with conversations in which images were shared.
The player previously competed for Landstede Zwolle, winning the Dutch title twice, and later played in Germany and Turkey before returning to the Netherlands. He joined Dynamo Apeldoorn in 2022 and made his international debut at a relatively late age, playing for the national team last summer.
The Dutch volleyball association said it could not yet respond because it has not received official confirmation of the suspect’s identity from prosecutors.
A further preliminary hearing is scheduled for 21 May, and the suspect will remain in custody while the investigation continues.
