TOKYO (TR) – Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force (MSDF) earlier this month handed a 12-month suspension to an officer after he was accused of paying for sex with a minor, a crime he was found to have committed dozens of times, reports Nikkan Sports (Dec. 12).
According to the MSDF, the lieutenant commander, aged in his 30s, allegedly paid a teenage girl 30,000 yen in cash to perform acts deemed obscene in a hotel in Kitakyushu City, Fukuoka Prefecture in June of last year while knowing she was a minor.
On November 20, the officer, who oversees a training and eduction division, was sent to prosecutors on suspicion of violating the anti-child prostitution law. He met the girl via a social-networking service, the MSDF said.
Over the past eight years, the officer committed the same crime with around 30 middle and high school girls, the MSDF said.
“It is an extremely regrettable act,” said MSDF officer Yuichiro Toi. “We will strive to provide guidance to our staff members in working to prevent a recurrence.”
