Police served a former Asahi National Broadcasting Co. (TV Asahi) employee with a new arrest warrant Saturday on suspicion of raping and robbing a 32-year-old female company executive in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward in March.
The police said Junichi Okabe, 40, was served the warrant on suspicion of entering the woman's unlocked apartment early March 9, raping her and robbing her of about 65,000 yen in cash at knife-point.
Okabe, from Tokyo's Suginami Ward, has already been indicted on charges including theft and has hinted at committing about 20 other crimes, including rapes and robberies.
He has denied the allegations in the March 9 case, however, saying, "I do not recall," according to the police.
Okabe's DNA matched that found in body fluid left at the scene, they said.
Makoto Sakamoto, executive managing director of TV Asahi, told a press conference at TV Asahi's headquarters in Tokyo, "If the allegations are a fact, it is a serious crime and can never be socially forgiven.
"For the media, which deals with public airwaves, it is something that must never happen and I would again like to apologize for that," Sakamoto added.
There have been around a dozen cases in which women living in luxurious apartments in the Shibuya district have been raped since late last year, according to the police.
Okabe was arrested June 28 on suspicion of entering the grounds of an apartment complex in Tokyo's Meguro Ward without permission in May and was served a fresh arrest warrant on suspicion of theft on July 11.
Okabe joined the sales division of TV Asahi in June 2000 and was temporarily transferred to the sales division of Asahi Satellite Broadcasting Ltd. in April last year. He was dismissed on July 2.
