Mainichi Daily News
Transsexual charged with drugging and robbing victim of 200,000 yen
Osaka – A transsexual man has been indicted for having a man take sleeping pills and stealing about 200,000 yen from him after he fell asleep, prosecutors said.
The Osaka District Public Prosecutors Office charged Kazuhiko Yamada, 33, a jobless man who underwent a sex change operation about 10 years ago, with robbery.
The victim, a 34-year-old man from the Osaka Prefecture city of Takaishi, expressed surprise that the robber was a man because he was dressed like a woman. “I didn’t notice the robber was a man,” the victim has told investigators.
Yamada, who has been unemployed since 2004, also confessed to involvement in about 10 similar cases. “I’m unable to pay my rent. I’ve committed around 10 similar crimes,” he was quoted as telling investigators.
Police are investigating his alleged involvement in other cases in a bid to press further charges against him.
In June last year, Yamada had the victim take sleeping pills at a karaoke establishment in Chuo-ku, Osaka, took him to a hotel in the city’s Tennoji-ku, and stole some 200,000 yen from him after he fell asleep, according to prosecutors. Yamada had become acquainted with the victim through a telephone dating club. How Yamada made him take the pills is unknown.
About 10 years ago, Yamada underwent a sex change operation and has since lived as a woman even though legally he is a man. He calls himself Kaori Yamada.