TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested a 55-year-old woman who is suspected forcing the girlfriend of her son to engage in sex with men she recruited online over a two-month period, report Nippon News Network (Jan. 29).
In December, 2016, Itsuko Okabe, a resident of Nerima Ward, received 45,000 yen after allegedly coercing the girl, 17 at the time, to engage in sex with a man, aged in his 50s, at a hotel in Toshima Ward.
Okabe, who has been accused of violating the anti-child prostitution law, denies the allegations. “She did it on her own,” the suspect was quoted.
According to police, the girl was a runaway who lived at the residence of the suspect while engaged in a relationship with her son. The suspect told the girl that she had to work to cover living expenses.
On more than 20 occasions over a two month period beginning in December, 2016, the suspect is believed to have dispatched the girl to engage in sex with men recruited on Twitter. The suspected received a total of 700,000 yen from the customers of the girl, police said.
The matter emerged after the girl fled the residence in February of last year.