Teacher accused of embezzlement abandons suicide plan after receiving child's e-mail | HDR Japan | Japan News

Advertise

If you want to be one of the first to know when something is published click an RSS feed icon listed below.

HDR Japan Updates
If you want to be one of the first to know when new information and images are published click this RSS feed icon.

Japan News
If you want to be one of the first informed when English news from Japan is published click this RSS feed icon.

Okinawa Travel
If you want to be one of the first to know when a new entry in the Okinawa Travel Guide is published click this RSS feed icon.

Forums
If you would like updates on new forum posts click this RSS feed icon.

SHURI CASTLE
Coming Soon

ZAKIMI CASTLE
Coming Soon

UNGAMI
Coming Soon

OKINAWA EISA
Coming Soon

LANDSCAPES
Coming Soon

NAHA MATSURI
Coming Soon

NAKAMURA
Coming Soon

ASHIBANA
Coming Soon

Random Gallery Images

Teacher accused of embezzlement abandons suicide plan after receiving child's e-mail

Wednesday, 11 June 2008

KAWAGOE, Saitama -- A teacher who went missing and considered committing suicide out of fear of his alleged embezzlement from school being uncovered abandoned plans to take his life after receiving a cell-phone e-mail from his child, it has been learned.

The Kawagoe Municipal Board of Education announced that it had sacked the 50-year-old music teacher, Hiroyuki Tsuchiya.

Officials said that in fiscal 2007, when Tsuchiya was working at a junior high school in the city of Asaka, he had control of reserve funds for school trips and supplementary teaching material for second-year students. During this time he allegedly withdrew padded amounts for bills on 18 occasions, and pocketed 8.25 million yen.

The teacher had reportedly lost money on futures trading and racked up debts totaling about 13 million yen. He allegedly used the school's money to pay off the debts.

In April this year the teacher took the bank passbook for the reserve funds with him and moved to another school. Reportedly fearing that his actions would be uncovered, he disappeared on May 2. He had considered taking his own life, but when he was staying in Hokkaido, he received an e-mail from his child on his mobile phone. It was then that he thought he would atone for his crime, and returned home.

Tsuchiya's relatives covered the amount that was embezzled, but the education board still plans to file a criminal complaint against the teacher on suspicion of embezzlement.

Copyright 2005-2006 THE MAINICHI NEWSPAPERS. All rights reserved. Mainichi features the best news in Japan, current news in Japan, Japan news in English, Japan business news, Tokyo Japan news, and Japan entertainment news. Mainichi News is syndicated in accordance with editorial regulations: personal and noncommercial purposes.