CHIBA (TR) – Chiba Prefectural Police have arrested a teacher at a junior high school in Tochigi City, Tochigi Prefecture for allegedly having a school boy send a nude photograph of himself last year, reports the Sankei Shimbun (May 31).
In July, Hiroki Wakasa, a 26-year-old teacher at the Tochigi Shiritsu Ohira Junior High School, allegedly requested that the boy, then a middle school student in Chiba Prefecture, take an image deemed obscene with a smartphone and send it to him. He made the request while knowing the boy was under 18 years of age, police said.
Wakasa, who has been accused of producing child pornography, admits to the allegations. “I have an interest in boys,” the suspect was quoted by police.
The matter emerged in August when the parents of the boy found the image on his phone. The suspect met the boy via Twitter, police said.
According to the Tochigi City Board of Education, Wakasa started work as a mathematics teacher at Tochigi Shiritsu Ohira Junior High School in April.
Police are now investigating the suspect, including examining his smartphone, over potential involvement in other cases.
