A man was sentenced yesterday on fraud and sex charges after falsely accusing young women of causing traffic accidents and coercing some of them into sex.
The Kaohsiung District Court handed Chi Hsu-hung (紀旭鴻) a nine-year term, saying he falsely accused the women of causing scooter accidents and manipulated them into giving him their contact information.
Chi has a prior conviction for carrying a deadly weapon and attempted rape, for which he was sentenced to two years in prison, but he was released early in March 2016, the court said.
He began reoffending within a few months of getting out of prison and while still on parole, it said.
Prosecutors said Chi’s latest offending had targeted 11 women in Taichung and Kaohsiung.
He would ride his scooter in search of young women, prosecutors said.
“Chi would flag down a female motorist and accuse her of causing an accident,” prosecutors said. “He would threaten them and demand compensation, while encouraging them to not involve the police.”
“Chi would take advantage of confusion and fear to obtain contact information, then would invite them for a meal, saying it would offset compensation,” they said. “In some cases, he convinced the women to have sex with him.”
In November 2016, Chi stopped a university student in Kaohsiung, telling her she had swerved and caused him to crash, prosecutors said.
From their conversation, Chi learned that she did not have a driver’s license and was afraid her family would find out that she had to pay for an accident, they said.
Chi told her that a massage would suffice as compensation and took her to a motel where Chi had sex with her, they said.
The student told a friend and they reported the incident to the police, which led to Chi’s arrest and the discovery of 10 similar cases, including one in which Chi stopped a 20-year-old woman surnamed Huang (黃) in Taichung in June 2016, prosecutors told the court.
“Chi told Huang: ‘Did you not see that you sideswiped my scooter?’ Huang believed him and gave him her name and telephone number,” they said.
That evening, Chi called her and asked to have a meal together, they said, adding that he told her: “If you become my girlfriend, you will not have to pay for the damage.”
Huang reported the situation to the police, but Chi continued to pester her, so she paid him NT$10,000, which was covered by her insurance plan, prosecutors said.
Chi told the court that the sex was consensual, but it rejected his account and convicted him on multiple counts of sexual assault, fraud, offenses against privacy and other charges.
Yesterday’s ruling can be appealed.
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