EXCLUSIVE: JAL official arrested for child prostitution

April 17, 2019

Tokyo--Police arrested on Wednesday a Japan Airlines <9201> senior official on suspicion of committing an indecent act with a female junior high school student in exchange for money.

Tatsuya Yokozeki, the 57-year-old head of the company's operation control department, was arrested by the Takashimadaira police station of the Metropolitan Police Department for alleged violation of the law against child prostitution and pornography.

Yokozeki, a resident of Hachioji, western Tokyo, has denied the allegations, saying, "I didn't know how old she was."

On Sept. 15, 2018, Yokozeki allegedly paid 30,000 yen to the girl, then a junior high school student, and carried out the indecent act with her at a hotel in Tokyo's Taito Ward, knowing that she was under 18.

According to the Takashimadaira station, Yokozeki contacted her after reading her Twitter post soliciting a compensated dating partner.

An officer at the police station started investigations after finding the post during a cyberspace patrol in October last year.

According to JAL, the operation control department manages the airline's domestic and international flight services. Jiji Press