NAGOYA — Police arrested a married couple Wednesday on suspicion of using an Internet Web site to solicit men to have sex with the wife, marking the first arrest over use of the Internet to advertise prostitution. Because looking for dates on the Internet is not illegal, police had to determine whether acts amounting to prostitution had taken place, they said. Investigators followed the couple and confirmed that the husband drove the wife to hotels at least three times a day for encounters with different men, police said.
Discretion assured. Between June 21 and July 3, the couple allegedly managed to attract five male customers who contacted them via e-mail.
The customers, whose ages ranged from 27 to 53, were from Aichi, Gunma and Hyogo prefectures, police said. According to the police investigation, the wife was working for a sex-related business in Nagoya last year. But when the husband allegedly suggested that more money could be made if they went into business on their own, the two came up with the prostitution scheme.
Since March, Norika allegedly had a total of customers, who paid 30, yen each. The couple had about 3 million yen in debt from moneylenders, police said. On a different Net message board, the couple asked potential customers to bring some form of identification in order to avoid being caught in a sting operation, according to police.
The husband drove the wife to the arranged meeting place and waited nearby while she met with the customers, police said. Sorry, but your browser needs Javascript to use this site.
