Fourth arrest for sexual assault…repeated “indecent acts” by Chiba Prefectural Police Captain

An eight-year-old case led to the fourth arrest of a police inspector.

On October 11, Chiba Prefectural Police re-arrested Makoto Okada (45, Someino, Sakura City), a police inspector with the Prefectural Police’s Investigation Section 4, on suspicion of forcible sexual intercourse, etc. In the early morning of July 6, 2002, he entered a room of a residential complex in the prefecture. He allegedly threatened a woman in the room with a knife and committed an indecent act.

The DNA type found at the scene matched that of Okada, who was arrested in another case, and the crime was discovered. Okada had been arrested three times in the past for voyeurism and sexual assault, but he denied committing the crimes. However, he must have given up after the fourth arrest. This time, he admitted the charges.

Okada first committed the crime on June 30 of this year. He entered the premises of a house in the prefecture and photographed the body of a bathing woman through the window with a smartphone. He was arrested on suspicion of violating the prefectural nuisance prevention ordinance and breaking and entering.

Breaking through a ticket gate and fleeing.

A month and a half later, on the night of August 12, he used his smartphone to spy on the skirt of a woman riding an escalator at Keisei Chiba Station (Chuo-ku, Chuo-ku, in the same prefecture) from behind. A man in the back of the train station became suspicious and called out, “Hey! the man in the back called out to her, and she fled through the ticket gate. Upon receiving a report from the man and station staff, a police officer seized Okada from the nearby sidewalk and arrested him in the act. At the time, Okada was intoxicated. He denied committing the crime, saying he had not taken any voyeuristic photographs.

The third time he was arrested was on September 20. The incident occurred between 2:00 and 3:00 a.m. on July 23, 2005. The suspect, Okada, entered the room of a woman living alone in the prefecture. He allegedly threatened her with a knife-like object and sexually assaulted her. The woman filed a damage report with the local police station the day after the incident. DNA samples taken from the crime scene matched those of Okada, who was arrested in the voyeurism case in June, leading to his arrest.

Okada was hired in 1997. After working at the Gyotoku and Funabashi police stations, he was assigned to the 4th Investigation Section, which is in charge of gang crimes, in March of this year. As a police captain, he was in charge of supervising and instructing dozens of subordinates. According to the prefectural police, he had no major problems with his work attitude and had no trouble caused by his drinking.

In response to the incident, the prefectural police issued the following statement.

We deeply regret that an employee has been re-arrested as a suspect in a heinous incident, and we sincerely apologize to the victim and the citizens of the prefecture.