An Okinawa-based sergeant of the Ground Self-Defense Force has been arrested on suspicion of engaging in sexual acts with a junior high school student in July, local police said Wednesday.
Sgt. 2nd Class Tomohiro Sakamoto, 28, stationed in the village of Gushikami, was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of having sexual relations with the 13-year-old girl at a hotel in Okinawa city on July 20.
The alleged act violates a prefectural ordinance to protect minors. Sakamoto has admitted to the charge, the police said.
According to investigators, Sakamoto met the girl via a telephone dating club and allegedly engaged in sexual acts with her despite knowing she was under 18.
The case came to light after the girl, who had run away from home in early July, returned the next month and told the police what had happened to her, they said.
The girl in question had kept Sakamoto's cellphone number, thus providing investigators with evidence of her relationship with him.
The schoolgirl reportedly told the police she also received money from Sakamoto.
In March, an Air Self-Defense Force official raped a 15-year-old girl in the prefecture, prompting Shigeru Ishiba, then senior vice minister at the Defense Agency, to apologize to Okinawa Gov. Keiichi Inamine in the wake of the official's arrest.
The ASDF later established a committee to combat crimes of this nature and dismissed the officer in April on disciplinary grounds. The official was later sentenced to 31/2years in prison.