The club reportedly solicited clients through cell-phone based sites. Some of
the girls were as young as 14, and none were older than 17. One of the girls
reportedly brought in 3 million yen for the ring over two months.
On Thursday police sent documents to prosecutors accusing a 20-year-old worker
at the club of violating child welfare laws, bringing their investigations into
the establishment to a close.
Investigators said the worker introduced a 16-year-old girl to a customer at a
hotel in Kitakyushu on November 27 last year, making her perform indecent acts
with him.
The club was opened in March last year by Shinichi Takahashi, 28, a former sex
club worker from Fukuoka's Hakata-ku who has been charged with violating child
welfare laws. Takahashi and others in the case allegedly posed as women,
writing messages on cell-phone matchmaking sites to solicit customers, and
forced girls to engage in prostitution in hotels in Kitakyushu and Fukuoka for
between 20,000 yen and 70,000 yen a time.
The suspects reportedly looked for girls to participate in the business through
cell phone sites and dispatched 61 girls to customers some 3,000 times between
March last year and July this year. Some customers reportedly used the service
dozens of times.
When questioned by police, Takahashi said he was able to make money because the
business was in high demand. One of the girls reportedly gave up going to high
school, saying she was too busy with the prostitution work.
Copyright Mainichi, used with permission.
