<figure id="attachment_478588" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-478588" style="width: 640px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="2cd26bba"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2026/08/c3a3fafdb027a470d61808bb5555fac5.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-478588" class="wp-caption-text">What is the “scavenger” story that a self-proclaimed journalist—allegedly accused of drugging young girls with alcohol and medication to render them unconscious and then sexually assaulting them—had been pitching to multiple media outlets?</figcaption></figure>
<h3><span class="strongInContent"> Using alcohol and drugs to cloud their consciousness…</span></h3>
<p> The man, who is believed to have repeatedly sexually assaulted multiple girls by making them drink cough medicine and other drugs mixed with alcohol to cloud their consciousness, was reportedly called “Sensei” by the girls.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> “By August 7, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department’s Juvenile Welfare Division and the Shinjuku Police Station had re-arrested Naomichi Moribe (54), an unemployed man from Yokohama, on suspicion of non-consensual sexual intercourse and other offenses.</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> Last August, Moribe lured a 15-year-old girl—whom he had met through social media—to a karaoke bar in Chiba Prefecture by telling her, ‘You can experience something similar to an overdose by mixing supplements.’He is suspected of sexually assaulting her while she was in a dazed state after being given alcohol and drugs, and of filming the incident with his smartphone. Suspect Moribe is reportedly remaining silent.” (Reporter, Social Affairs Section, national newspaper)</span></p>
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<p> Suspect Moribe had been arrested in June of this year on charges of non-consensual indecent acts against another girl. At that time, approximately 770 videos and 14,300 images believed to be child pornography were reportedly found on a computer and other devices seized from his home. Analysis of these videos and other materials led to the discovery of a series of additional crimes.</p>
<p> The aforementioned society desk reporter explains:</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> “On July 19, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department also arrested Suspect Moribe on suspicion of non-consensual sexual intercourse, filming sexual poses, and violating the Child Pornography Prohibition Act.He is suspected of giving a then-15-year-old middle school girl, whom he met on social media, cough medicine and alcohol in a private room at a karaoke box, sexually assaulting her after she fell asleep, and filming the incident with his smartphone.</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> The victim reportedly posted about her troubles on social media, after which she received a message from Suspect Morobe—a stranger to her—and agreed to meet him. Suspect Morobe has remained silent regarding this incident as well.”</span></p>
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<p> Suspect Morobe lived in a four-story apartment building about a 5-minute walk from the nearest station, where the rent was approximately 50,000 yen. According to a resident of the same building <span class="strongInContent">, “We’d occasionally pass each other, but we’ve never exchanged a word.”</span></p>
<p> What kind of person is Suspect Moribe?</p>
<p> As mentioned at the beginning, the girls apparently called him “Sensei,” but among some sports newspapers and true-crime magazines, he was known as a man who claimed to be a “journalist.”</p>
<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" “Sleeping Beauty” and “The Scavenger”"></div>
<h3><span class="strongInContent">&#8220;I hooked up with this girl yesterday.&#8221;</span></h3>
<p> A sports newspaper reporter whispered this.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> “Mr. Morube was said to be interviewing the girls at To-Yoko and investigating the situation there. It seems he provided comments to the media when they wrote articles about To-Yoko, posing as an anonymous ‘journalist covering To-Yoko.’”</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent">“The story was just too risky, so he’d cut off contact recently</span>, <span class="strongInContent">”</span> says an editor at a true-crime magazine.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> “Mr. Moribe referred to women who fell asleep on the train while drunk as ‘Sleeping Beauties’ and the men who took them home as ‘Pickers,’ and he was running stories warning people to ‘watch out for the Pickers.’ However, the images—including what appeared to be clear voyeuristic shots of women sleeping with their underwear exposed—were absolutely not something we could publish.”</span></p>
<p> Furthermore, he says they even received a video that was reminiscent of the recent incident.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> “He once sent a video saying, ‘I picked up a girl like this yesterday,’ showing him taking a sleeping woman to a hotel or karaoke booth and performing lewd acts on her. There were also images of him using sex toys on a woman sleeping in a park, so he must have been carrying those kinds of things around with him.I even received a message saying, ‘There was an article about me in a sports newspaper.’ In any case, to me, Mr. Morobe is not a journalist—he’s a sex offender.”</span></p>
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<p> Suspect Morobe appears to have supplied this “pick-up artist” story to other media outlets as well. In June 2020, an article titled “‘Pick-up Artists’ Active as COVID-19 Restrictions Ease” was published in a sports newspaper.</p>
<p> The gist of the article was: “Perhaps due to the easing of COVID-19 restrictions, there’s been an increase in ‘Sleeping Beauties’—women who fall asleep on trains after getting heavily drunk—so be careful not to fall victim to the ‘pick-up artist.’”The article features a “pick-up artist” who urges caution with advice such as <span class="strongInContent">“Don’t drink to excess” and “Go home with someone.”</span> It is believed that this “pick-up artist” is none other than Suspect Morobe himself.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> “Mr. Moribe was the type of person who, even when it came to content that could serve as evidence of a crime—such as committing lewd acts against minors—would call the editorial department without hesitation and say, ‘I’ve got this story.’ When I learned of his arrest on the TV news, I thought, ‘He was still doing this kind of thing? It’s good he got caught,’” said the editor of the true-crime magazine mentioned earlier.</span></p>
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<p> Suspect Moribe, who called himself a “journalist,” was peddling his own criminal acts as news material. On the other hand, in YouTube videos introducing delicious restaurants nationwide, he appeared as a regular customer who had been frequenting a certain restaurant since his 20s.While tucking into the restaurant’s famous tempura rice bowl, he commented in a calm tone <span class="strongInContent">, “The tempura is really well-made—not at all floury, yet not too hard either. It’s delicious.”</span></p>
<p> The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department is continuing its investigation, believing there may be other girls who have suffered similar sexual abuse. Some reports have suggested that at least seven girls under the age of 15 may have been victimized.</p>
<p> It appears it will still take some time before the full extent of the crimes comes to light.</p>
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 Ryo Nakahira

 A self-proclaimed journalist has been arrested on suspicion of giving alcohol and drugs to two 15-year-old girls, rendering them dazed, and then sexually assaulting them. What is the horrifying content of the “Scavenger” story the man had been pitching to multiple media outlets?

The Horrifying Content of “The Scavenger’s Report” by a Self-Proclaimed Journalist (54) Arrested on Suspicion of Sexually Assaulting Multiple Girls

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