Taiwanese massage therapist held in LA
A 71-year-old Taiwanese massage therapist has been arrested in Los Angeles on suspicion of videotaping and sexually assaulting dozens of female clients in Belize.
Kevin Lee, who has practised massage therapy in the Central American ally of Taiwan for 20 years, is accused of molesting a number of his female patients while secretly videotaping them as they got undressed. Taiwanese media reported that the victims included wives and dependents of several Belizean senior government officials, celebrities and foreign diplomats stationed there.
But in an interview with the Taipei-based Central News Agency, Taiwan's ambassador to Belize, David Wu, said Lee did not commit sexual assaults, but had been accused of secretly filming his patients. 'This is not a sexual assault case, and no wives of ranking Belize officials fell prey to Lee,' he was quoted as saying.
The scandal reportedly came to light last month after photos of some victims were circulated online, prompting a police investigation. The reports said the photos were allegedly released by a computer technician who was fixing Lee's computer and who wanted to blackmail him after finding more than 600 pictures featuring the alleged molestation of women.Lee reportedly fled Belize on September 20 and was arrested in Los Angeles on September 22 after Belize sought Interpol help.
Taiwanese Foreign Ministry spokesman James Chang confirmed yesterday that Lee was arrested in Los Angeles late last month, but declined to give details. He said Taiwan's representative office in Los Angeles had visited Lee in a US detention centre to ensure he had not been mistreated.
Some news media have compared the case to that of Hong Kong-based pop singer Edison Chen Koon-hei, whose personal photos of nude or semi-nude female celebrities were leaked online after he took his computer in for repairs.
