SAITAMA (Kyodo) A 26-year-old man who was once a would-be pop star has been arrested along with three coworkers on suspicion of stealing pachinko balls from a parlor where they work at last Christmas night in Kasukabe, Saitama Prefecture, police said Wednesday.
The four, including Kazuki Matsumoto, who belonged to entertainment agency Johnny & Associates, which has famous pop groups including SMAP under its wing, are suspected of removing equipment that counts the balls from pachinko machines and stealing around 3,300 balls on Dec. 25.
Matsumoto became a trainee at Johnny & Associates when he was a second-year junior high school student. He worked in show business as a member of Johnny's Jr., a group of teenage boys who belong to the agency but have yet to make formal debuts, until he became a high school sophomore, according to the police. He took the job at the pachinko parlor about two years ago.
The police said the four, who have owned up to the charges, divided the proceeds, which were worth about ¥8,000 after cashing in the balls.
The four were quoted as saying they swiped pachinko balls "on a routine basis."