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Tokyo: Man, 47, arrested for kidnapping high school girl he met online

Masakatsu Yamaguchi
Masakatsu Yamaguchi

TOKYO (TR) – Tochigi Prefectural Police have arrested a 47-year-old man for allegedly kidnapping a high school girl in Tochigi Prefecture that he met online and keeping her at his residence in Tokyo for nearly one week, reports the Sankei Shimbun (Feb. 24).

In the early morning hours of February 18, Masakatsu Yamaguchi, an employee of a game development company, drove to Utsunomiya City, Tochigi to meet the girl after she said via a social-networking service that she was planning to run away from home.

The girl stayed at his residence, located in the Kita Karasuyama area of Setagaya Ward, until February 23, according to police.

Yamaguchi, who has been accused of abducting a minor, admits to the allegations. “I invited her out because I thought I could have a sexual relationship with her if things went well,” the suspect was quoted by police.

The parents of the girl reported her missing to the Utsunomiya Chuo Police Station on the morning of February 18. A note found within her school work indicated that she had run away. Yamaguchi surfaced as a person of interest after it was leaned that he had corresponded with the girl.

After the girl left Yamaguchi’s residence on February 23, she boarded a Shinkansen bullet train bound for Fukuoka City, Fukuoka Prefecture. Police took the girl into protective custody once the train arrived in Hiroshima City, Hiroshima Prefecture, according to Fuji News Network (Feb. 25).