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Saturday January 15 4:46 PM ET
Mexico Prosecutor to Seek Gloria Trevi Extradition
RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - A Mexican prosecutor will fly to Brazil on Monday to request the extradition of pop singer Gloria Trevi, arrested on charges that she and her manager abducted and sexually abused young girls, a lawyer for the singer said on Saturday. Chihuahua state Prosecutor Arturo Gonzalez Rascon, who last year issued an arrest warrant for Trevi and her manager Sergio Andrade on charges of kidnapping, corruption of minors and rape, will arrive with Interpol Mexico director Jose Ponce, Rodrigo Barreto, a Brazilian lawyer representing the singer, told reporters. Brazilian police arrested Trevi, Andrade and an associate, Maria Portillo, a backup singer also known as ``Maria Boquitas,'' on Thursday at a modest apartment near Rio's famous Copacabana beach after tracking them for months as they fled the authorities through Latin America. Officials have said that the extradition process could take up to 90 days. Trevi, held at the crumbling Frei Caneca jail in central Rio since Thursday, was expected to issue a statement from behind bars early next week to coincide with Rascon's arrival. Jail officials have barred her from speaking to the news media. ``Her statement should be out by Monday or Tuesday,'' Octavio Neves, another lawyer representing Trevi, told reporters camped outside the jail. Trevi and Andrade disappeared after allegations surfaced in Mexico in late 1998 that they had lured young girls into their care with promises of fame, and then sexually abused them in a cult-like fashion. The duo surfaced in Rio in the middle of last year, renting temporary apartments in Copacabana every few months. Neighbors said Trevi and Andrade lived with five other young women, three Mexicans and one Argentine. According to local newspaper O Globo, Trevi's roommates earned a living by selling snacks on the beaches. ``Trevi liked to have baked chicken and beer and never wanted to spend more than six reais ($3),'' Manoel Azevedo, owner of a restaurant on Copacabana, told O Globo. Citing Trevi's hair dresser Carlos Lima, the daily said the singer moved to Brazil because ``the only document necessary to live here is money.'' Trevi shot to stardom in Mexico in the early 1990s as a
rebel against her homeland's conservative society. She was known
for outrageous onstage antics and for wearing ripped stockings
and miniskirts.
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