TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested a 37-year-old fireman from a station in Chiba Prefecture for allegedly molesting a woman inside a train car and later outside a station, reports the Sankei Shimbun (Mar. 13).
On August 22 at 10:30 p.m., Shogo Hirakawa, a fireman at the Chuo Fire Department in Funabashi City, allegedly probed his fingers inside the underwear of the woman, 22, inside a car of the JR Sobu Line as it traveled between Kinshicho and Shin-Koiwa stations.
Upon the train’s arrival at Shin-Koiwa, the woman exited and the man followed her. He then forced the victim into an alley and forcibly groped her chest and lower body again.
Hirakawa, who has been charged with indecent assault, admits to the allegations. “I was drunk and got turned on,” the suspect is quoted by the Katsushika Police Station.
Hirakawa became a person of interest for the police after an examination of security camera footage.
According to the Chuo Fire Department, the suspect was off-duty at the time of the incident. “After confirming the facts of the case, we will endeavor to deal with the matter strictly,” a representative of the department is quoted.
