The police in Japan have arrested a man suspected of sedating and raping up to 100 women on the pretext of conducting medical tests on them, while he filmed his misdeeds and posted them on the internet, media reports said Tuesday.
The suspect, identified as Hideyuki Noguchi, 54, video-recorded his assaults and later posted the footage over the internet or sold it to porn film producers, according to the Tokyo Broadcasting System channel.
Noguchi lured his victims with advertisements on the internet or newspapers, claiming that he sought volunteers for clinical tests to measure blood pressure during sleep after consuming alcohol.
He met his victims at hotels or spas where he administered a potent sedative to them.
Once they were unconscious, he raped them and filmed his assaults using a video camera.
The suspect, who has no medical qualifications, supposedly pocketed about 10 million yen (about $85,100) from selling the videos, police said.
The alleged abuses took place between November 2011 and November 2013.
Police in Chiba prefecture, who are in charge of the investigation, said there were at least 39 confirmed victims, while evidence indicated that the number could reach a hundred, according to the state-owned television channel NHK.
Authorities began to investigate Noguchi following a complaint filed in November 2013, by a woman who came across videos on the internet where someone with a striking resemblance to herself was being subjected to sexual abuse.
The victims were in their 20s to 40s and were mainly from Tokyo, Chiba, Osaka and other prefectures.