Former mayor Ionel Robert Ştefan sentenced to 9 years in prison

Ionel Robert Ştefan, the former mayor of Ştefăneştii de Jos in Ilfov, has been sentenced to 9 years in prison by the Bucharest Tribunal. He was found guilty of continuous rape involving a 13-year-old girl during June 2018.

The sentence will account for time already served under preventive arrest or house arrest between February 2022 and February 2024. While convicted of rape, Ştefan was acquitted of charges related to assault and influencing statements, and other charges were dismissed due to the statute of limitations.

In the broader case investigated by DIICOT, five other individuals—four men and one woman—received sentences ranging from 7 to 18 years for the trafficking and sexual exploitation of the minor between 2017 and 2018. The court rejected a prosecutor's request for damages on behalf of the victim, who declined to seek compensation in court.