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Ex-NHK announcer suspected in additional rape case in Yamanashi

Yasutaka Tsurumoto
Yasutaka Tsurumoto

YAMAGATA (TR) – A former reporter, 28, for public broadcaster NHK accused of rape in Yamagata Prefecture is also suspected in another case in Yamanashi Prefecture, investigative sources with the Yamanashi Prefectural Police revealed on Friday, reports the Asahi Shimbun (Mar. 10).

According to the sources, a warrant has been issued for the re-arrest of Yasutaka Tsurumoto in the alleged rape of a woman inside her residence in the prefecture in 2014. The results of a DNA analysis items left at the crime scene proved to be a match for the suspect.

Tsurumoto is expected to be re-arrested next week, according to TBS News (Mar. 10).

On February 6, police first arrested Tsurumoto, then a reporter for an affiliate of NHK’s Yamagata Broadcasting Station in Sakata City, Yamagata Prefecture, in the alleged rape of a woman, aged in her 20s, inside her residence in the Murayama locality of Yamagata about one year ago. The victim suffered injuries that required two weeks to heal.

After graduating from Waseda University in 2011, Tsurumoto joined the public broadcaster in Kofu City, Yamanashi. In July of 2015, he was transferred to the Yamagata Broadcasting Station. He moved to the affiliate in Sakata last year.

Tsurumoto was terminated by NHK on February 16.