Tokyo police have arrested four people on suspicion of getting a man with a mild intellectual disability drunk on whiskey and stealing his smartphone while he was unconscious.
The suspects — identified as Daichi Suzuki, 22, from Atami in Shizuoka Prefecture; Kanako Sato, 24, of Tokyo’s Edogawa Ward; a 19-year-old restaurant worker from Tokyo’s Chiyoda Ward; and university student Sota Shimazaki, 21, of Abashiri, Hokkaido — had met the man through social media over shared interest in anime and had met several times before, investigators said.
All four admitted to the allegations, with some telling investigators they committed the act because “it was funny to see him so drunk.”
According to police, the group lured the victim, a part-time worker in his 40s, to a street in Tokyo’s Nakano Ward on the evening of June 5. They allegedly told him, “This is a special medicine; drink it” before coercing him into consuming more than 700 milliliters of whiskey. After he became severely intoxicated, they stole his phone.
Police allege the suspects also stripped the man’s pants off, committed indecent acts and abandoned him in a shrubbery near his home while he was unconscious. They then used his smartphone to make purchases worth about ¥95,000 ($635) at restaurants and other establishments.
They later posted videos of the intoxicated man on social media, authorities said. On another occasion, Suzuki and Sato allegedly drove the victim around before leaving him in the mountains of Shizuoka Prefecture.
Investigators believe the man had been repeatedly coerced into drinking by the four suspects and giving them money, leaving him too afraid to resist.
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