The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday confirmed that a Taiwanese expatriate is being detained in Los Angeles for alleged sexual misconduct in Belize, where he practiced acupuncture and Chinese medicine.
The Chinese-language China Times yesterday reported that Kevin Lee (李崑臨) allegedly molested several of his Belizian female patients and videotaped them as they got undressed. Many of the alleged victims were said to be wives of politically prominent men and well-known socialites.
The Taiwanese embassy in Belize has been closely monitoring the situation since late last month when the case broke and it is now assisting Belizian police with their investigation, ministry spokesman James Chang (章計平) said.
Ambassador to Belize David Wu (吳建國) said in a telephone interview with Central News Agency on Monday that Lee, who has lived in Belize for nearly two decades, had been accused of secretly filming his patients, but that he did not commit sexual assaults as has been alleged.
“This is not a sexual assault case. No wives of ranking Belize officials fell prey to Lee,” Wu said.
Wu also confirmed Lee’s arrest.
The China Times reported that a technician who was fixing Lee’s PC several weeks ago found nearly 600 video files on Lee’s hard disk that allegedly showed several Belizian socialites and ministers’ wives being sexually molested in his clinic. A disk of the videos began to circulate after an attempt to blackmail Lee failed, causing uproar in the country.
Sources who have watched the videos said the supposed victims seemed to have been sexually assaulted when in a dazed state, the report said.
The alleged victims apparently include female diplomats from other countries stationed in Belize and their dependents, prompting Belizian police to issue an international warrant for Lee through Interpol, which led to Lee’s arrest last week, the newspaper report added.
Wu said his embassy has learned that a suspect who is accused of trying to blackmail Lee showed a disk and the letter used in the blackmail attempt to a leader of the Taiwanese expatriate community in Belize.
The disk showed a patient undressing. Wu said as the two parties played the disk over dinner, a Belizian official nearby alerted a minister and the matter came to light.
The diplomat said the alleged victims were average Belizian citizens and that no wives of ranking officials were involved, as far as the embassy knew. He said reports that wives of senior officials were involved was simply speculation and that police in the country had yet to confirm them.
Because many of the 1,000 Taiwanese living in Belize practice Chinese medicine, Wu expressed the hope that the incident would not hurt Taiwanese expatriates in Belize and that it would not affect Taiwan’s image in the country.
One of two tropical depressions that formed off Taiwan yesterday morning could turn into a moderate typhoon by the weekend, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Tropical Depression No. 21 formed at 8am about 1,850km off the southeast coast, CWA forecaster Lee Meng-hsuan (李孟軒) said. The weather system is expected to move northwest as it builds momentum, possibly intensifying this weekend into a typhoon, which would be called Mitag, Lee said. The radius of the storm is expected to reach almost 200km, she said. It is forecast to approach the southeast of Taiwan on Monday next week and pass through the Bashi Channel
WARNING: People in coastal areas need to beware of heavy swells and strong winds, and those in mountainous areas should brace for heavy rain, the CWA said The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday issued sea and land warnings for Typhoon Ragasa, forecasting that it would continue to intensify and affect the nation the most today and tomorrow. People in Hualien and Taitung counties, and mountainous areas in Yilan and Pingtung counties, should brace for damage caused by extremely heavy rain brought by the typhoon’s outer rim, as it was upgraded to a super typhoon yesterday morning, the CWA said. As of 5:30pm yesterday, the storm’s center was about 630km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving northwest at 21kph, and its maximum wind speed had reached
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said that it expected to issue a sea warning for Typhoon Ragasa this morning and a land warning at night as it approached Taiwan. Ragasa intensified from a tropical storm into a typhoon at 8am yesterday, the CWA said, adding that at 2pm, it was about 1,110km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip. The typhoon was moving northwest at 13kph, with sustained winds of up to 119kph and gusts reaching 155kph, the CWA Web site showed. Forecaster Liu Pei-teng (劉沛滕) said that Ragasa was projected to strengthen as it neared the Bashi Channel, with its 200km
MATAIAN RIVER: Rescue operations were ongoing, with officials urging residents to move to higher floors where possible as teams focus first on those at ground level Floodwaters from the overflowing Mataian River (馬太鞍溪) barrier lake swept into Hualien County’s Guangfu Township (光復) yesterday afternoon, leaving hundreds of people trapped and three missing as of press time last night, the Hualien County Fire Bureau said. The waters surged into downtown Guangfu after the riverbank burst at about 2:50pm, carrying mud and debris and submerging streets to rooftop level in some areas. Residents were seen climbing onto vehicles and rooftops to await rescue as thick, silt-laden water inundated the town. The surge destroyed the Mataian Bridge (馬太鞍溪橋) and flooded the Guangfu Railway Station. Rescue operations were launched with support from fire departments
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