A jiu-jitsu instructor in Manaus, Brazil, was taken into custody early Tuesday morning after civil police served a preventive arrest warrant connecting him to the SA of a 14-year-old student.
Diego Marinho, 33, a black belt and self-described master of the art, was apprehended in the Nova Esperança neighborhood in the city’s Centro-Oeste zone by officers from the Specialized Delegation for the Protection of Children and Adolescents, known locally as DEPCA. According to sources and the Amazonas Civil Police (PC-AM), the assault took place at the end of 2025.
Authorities say Marinho used his standing as the young girl’s instructor to gain entry to her home while her father was absent, carrying out the assault while she was alone.
Too afraid to go directly to her father, the student first confided in a close friend, who helped her find the words to tell him what had happened. Once informed, her father went without delay to the DEPCA office on Rua Via Láctea in the Morada do Sol complex to formally report the incident.
Marinho was brought to the DEPCA facility following his arrest and later appeared before a custody hearing at the Fórum Ministro Henoch da Silva Reis courthouse in the São Francisco neighborhood. He remains in legal custody pending judicial proceedings. No legal representation for Marinho had been located at the time of publication.
Police are urging anyone who may have experienced misconduct at the hands of Marinho to come forward and report to DEPCA headquarters to assist with the ongoing investigation.
Marinho’s wife, fellow jiu-jitsu instructor Maysa Ladislau, addressed the situation publicly through her Instagram profile. In a written statement, she said she “received the news with pain and a strong sense of responsibility.”
The arrest lands against a backdrop of mounting allegations within the jiu-jitsu community in Amazonas state. Marinho is the second martial arts instructor taken into custody in under a month on charges of s3xual violence against students.
Earlier this month, instructor Carlos Vieira Holanda was arrested by the PC-AM after spending more than a month as a fugitive. He faces investigation for the r*pe of a vulnerable person, s3xual importuning, and the s3xual exploitation of at least seven female students, among them both children and teenagers.
A third case has drawn its own considerable public attention. Melqui Galvão, a civil police investigator who also taught jiu-jitsu, was arrested on April 28 on suspicion of r*pe of a vulnerable person, s3xual importuning, threats, and unauthorized access to computer devices.
