TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested a male Reconstruction Agency official over the alleged drugging and rape of a girl in Toshima Ward earlier this year, reports Kyodo News (July 19).
On the night of May 27, Hisaoki Sugawara, 46, took the girl to an izakaya restaurant near JR Ikebukuro Station.
After he allegedly laced an alcoholic drink consumed by the girl with a sleeping powder he took her to a nearby hotel where he sexually assaulted her while she was unconscious.
Upon his arrest on suspicion of quasi-coerced intercourse on Sunday, Sugawara denied the allegations. “We didn’t do anything at the hotel,” the suspect was quoted by police.
According to police, Sugawara met the girl via Twitter after she posted a message indicating the was seeking a partner for a relationship known as papakatsu, whereby a man pays a younger female to accompany him on dates. “I’ll pay you just to meet,” the suspect reportedly wrote back.
When the girl awoke the morning after the incident, she sensed something was wrong and consulted with police.
Formed in 2012, the Reconstruction Agency is tasked with coordinating the reconstruction of the Tohoku area following the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011.
