ISHIKAWA (TR) – Ishikawa Prefectural Police are searching for a 26-year-old man who wielded a knife while fleeing a love hotel in Kanazawa City without paying his bill, reports the Yomiuri Shimbun (Jan. 24).
At around 3:00 a.m. on Wednesday, a male guest thrust the knife before the 65-year-old female manager at hotel Shangria before fleeing the scene without paying his bill of around 24,000 yen.
Through an examination of security camera footage, the Kanazawa-Higashi Police Station identified the perpetrator as Keigo Hisatome. His whereabouts are sought on suspicion of robbery.
According to police and the manager, Hisatome was dressed in a black knit hat and black coat at the time of the incident. He was also wearing a white breathing mask and carrying a white tote bag.
The hotel is outfitted with an alarm system that sounds an alert if a customer exits the room without paying. After Hisatome left his sixth-floor accommodation, the alarm sounded and the manager accosted him at the elevator on the first floor. It was then that he pulled out the knife.
“This is the first time that someone has pulled a knife”
Hisatome checked into the room alone at around 5:00 a.m. the day before. In running up the bill, he ordered omelette and yakisoba noodle dishes via room service and drank 9 cans of shochu beverages and other alcoholic drinks from an in-room refrigerator. He also consumed instant noodles placed in the room.
“It is often that customers leave without paying their bills, but this is the first time that someone has pulled a knife,” the manager said.
