Toddlers were gang-raped in Texas mall bathroom because their moms couldn't afford childcare and entrusted them to 'pedophile co-worker Arthur Hector Fernandez' who they 'were able to identify in abuse videos by his bracelets and shoes'

Houston mall worker Arthur Hector Fernandez, 29, was arrested in DecemberColleague and next-door workers entrusted him with their toddlers, 2, at workHorrifying videos appeared on dark web, and led the FBI to FernandezDo you know more? Email [email protected] 

Two toddlers were gang-raped in a shopping center bathroom while their mothers believed their alleged pedophile co-worker was looking after them.

Arthur Hector Fernandez, 29, a shop worker at the Galleria mall in Houston, is accused of being the ringleader of at least seven men who abused the infants.

He then allegedly posted four videos he filmed of the horrific abuse of the two-year-old boys on evil corners of the dark web for fellow pedophiles.

That was his alleged undoing, as the videos were spotted by Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation, and the children’s mothers identified him.

Fernandez allegedly gained access to the children because he worked with one of their mothers and next door to the other one.

The women were sometimes called in to work on their day off, or couldn’t arrange or afford childcare, and trusted their friend Fernandez to watch them.

Arthur Hector Fernandez, 29, is accused of leading a gang of pedophiles who filmed themselves raping two toddlers in a Texas mall bathroom

Judge Andrew Edison took one look at a the ‘overwhelming’ and ‘revolting’ evidence and threw Fernandez in jail until his trial.

‘I cannot allow (the) defendant to abuse any other minors, and there are no conditions or combination of conditions (of release) that can alleviate a danger to the community. This is not a close call,’ he wrote in his order.

The evidence lays out in horrifying detail how four men repeatedly abused the boys, including one who was raped on a changing table.

One of the men even told the victim to ‘shut the f**k up’ as he struggled, and in another video an abuser called the boy ‘you f**king s**t’ and told him to ‘cry like a little b***h’.

Fernandez is the only suspect charged in the case so far, and it is unclear if the other men in the video have been identified by police.

After the FBI was tipped off last month, agents had the grim task of painstakingly analyzing the footage for clues, and noticed one of the men’s distinctive bracelets.

They tracked down one of the mothers after running the child’s face through an open-source image search and showed her a ‘sanitized’ image of the jewelry.

She said she recognized the two silver bracelets – one a chain with a dolphin charm and the other a solid bead style – as regularly worn by Fernandez.

Investigators combed through Fernandez’s Instagram page and found a photo of him allegedly wearing the same bracelets.

The mother told them Fernandez frequently wore white Converse All-Star shoes, just like the pair seen in one of the videos.

The attacks are said to have happened at Houston’s Galleria Mall, where Fernandez worked in a kiosk

With her help, investigators identified the second child and his mother, whom they presented with the same evidence and she also identified Fernandez.

Both women said Fernandez sometimes watched their sons when they were forced to take them to work as they couldn’t find or afford childcare.

The first mother said he pushed her child around the mall last summer when she was called into work last minute on her day off.

She sent the FBI a video she found of Fernandez walking out of the Galleria on May 6 last year wearing the same outfit as he allegedly was in one of the videos.

The second woman said Fernandez took her child around the mall near Christmas 2022, and took him trick-or-treating last year.

Police raided Fernandez’s home and seized his computer, tablet, two phones, and a camera storage card, along with three pairs of white Converse All-Stars.

He was arrested on December 18 in Kingwood, Texas, and has been behind bars ever since.

FBI agent Torrence White, in announcing the charges against Fernandez, warned parents that predators were often someone they knew.

‘The perpetrators of these crimes are family members, teachers, and members of the community. Oftentimes folks are looking for the monster in the white van, but often it’s the person you know,’ he said.

Houston’s Galleria is the biggest mall in Texas and seventh largest in the US. It opened in 1969 and has 400 stores.