Prosecutors indicted a public health official in Kaohsiung on Friday after he allegedly used a confidential health database to identify victims to solicit sex from and assaulted a minor.
The suspect, 42-year old Ho Chien-chung (何建忠), served as executive secretary at Lingya District Mental Health Center, part of the Kaohsiung Department of Health.
Ho was involved in case management for patients involving suicide, child abuse, domestic violence, sexual assault and other issues, part of the social safety net.
Photo: Hsu Li-chuan, Taipei Times
Prosecutors said that in June last year he accessed the mental health care inquiry system, accessed information on a female victim, a minor, including her residence and school information, and added her on Line and social media using that information.
The indictment said Ho pretended to be a client looking to procure sexual services, contacting her with questions such as: “Do you need spending money?” “can you come for a date in Kaohsiung?” and “do you want to earn money?”
The girl had suffered emotional injury and physical self-harm due to others circulating videos featuring her performing sexual acts, prosecutors said.
The victim believed Ho had the videos and was blackmailing her, prosecutors said, meeting with him to attempt to prevent him from circulating the videos further.
Ho met the victim on June 30, driving her to a motel, where he sexually assaulted her, according to court documents. Ho placed several NT$1,000 bills on the table to pay her, but she refused to take the money, the indictment said.
Afterward, Ho dropped her outside a convenience store, and stuffed NT$3,600 into her bag. She then contacted police, prosecutors said.
After learning police had initiated an investigation, Ho allegedly used his wife’s access at the city’s Social Affairs Bureau to check on the progress of the case.
Ho was charged with obstruction of sexual autonomy.
He was arrested and confined for six months before being released on NT$200,000 bail on Wednesday, as prosecutors seek a 10-year, six-month sentence.
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