Police have launched an investigation into a YouTube user named “Professor Rat” (教授鼠鼠), after a woman accused him of giving her date-rape drugs and sexually assaulting her and five other women.
After the woman, surnamed Chen (陳), filed a complaint with Hsinchu police on Tuesday, “Professor Rat,” whose given name is Yu Ching-min (游清閔), apologized on social media, saying that he had a sexual relationship with Chen and has a sex video of her on his computer.
Chen, 22, said that she used social media to contact Yu, who uses his minor celebrity status to invite fans to his office or on dinner dates.
Photo: Tsai Chang-sheng, Taipei Times
“Yu is a vile, disgusting person, because he uses deception to drug women. Then he rapes them when the women are unconscious and films it,” Chen said in a statement. “I felt sick when I found out what happened, and wanted to take a knife and cut him for what he had done.”
Chen said that Yu always brings pills to such meetings and would put them into the women’s drinks or give them the pills directly, saying they are for relaxation.
She said that she could not remember what happened when she woke up, and only found out she was raped after checking a recording from her home surveillance camera.
After sharing the incident online, at least five other women claimed they were similarly assaulted by Yu, Chen said.
Criminal investigator Chang Cheng-jui (張承瑞) said that police would investigate the case and could charge Yu with aggravated sexual assault and drug possession, both of which carry sentences of more than seven years.
“The drug used was most likely MDMA, also known as ecstasy, which can induce hallucinations, heighten stimulation and cause other psychoactive effects,” Chang said.
In Taiwan, MDMA is usually sold as a candy tablet for about NT$2,000 per pill, Chang added.
Yu always appears in his YouTube videos wearing a face mask to conceal his identity.
He claims to have a law degree and has more than 100,000 followers.
Some of his videos discuss nighttime entertainment establishments, illegal drugs, parties and how to pick up women, which he says he learned from years working at nightclubs.
Chen said that Yu started speaking with her last year and expressed a desire to work together.
After news of the investigation broke yesterday, Yu said in an online post that he and Chen were in a relationship and admitted to giving drugs to two of his fans for sex, but added that the women were consenting adults.
“Here is my sincere apology that I have done wrong, and hope that people can learn from my lesson,” Yu wrote.
Most netizens castigated Yu for his alleged offenses and for posting an apology only after a police started an investigation.
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