Public high school principal arrested for blackmailing ex-student lover | HDR Japan | Japan News

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Public high school principal arrested for blackmailing ex-student lover

Monday, 10 March 2008

KAWAGUCHI, Saitama -- Investigators have seized the computer and USB memory sticks of Kawaguchi Municipal High School Principal Kazuo Ichikawa as they investigate his alleged blackmail of a former student lover, police said.

Ichikawa, 56, was arrested on the weekend for intimidating the young woman he started dating when she was still a schoolgirl and he was her vice principal.

Ichikawa denies the allegations against him, but officials from the Kawaguchi Municipal Board of Education held a news conference and apologized for his actions.

"He was really serious about his job and the kids loved him because he was so carefree, which makes what happened more of a shame," Board Superintendent Noriyuki Kamiyama told the news conference. "We are filled with remorse toward students and their parents."

Kamiyama said the municipal government's disciplinary committee would meet to discuss punishment for Ichikawa.

Police said that Ichikawa started dating the then schoolgirl in January 2002, when he was the vice principal of the public high school she was attending. He helped her with study after class and listened to her worries, and later they became intimate. After the girl started seeing another man, she suggested to her former vice principal that they end their relationship. From March last year, he started sending her e-mail demanding she maintain their love affair.

Ichikawa started teaching in 1977. He was active in educational reform. His school held its graduation ceremony on Saturday, during which Ichikawa told students "I want you to grow in to people who will make a contribution to society."

An 18-year-old student who graduated that day was dismayed by the fate of his principal.

"He was such a bright and approachable teacher it has made the shock all the greater," the teen said.

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