Chiba council member arrested for assault on minor

A council member in Nagareyama, Chiba Prefecture, was arrested Sunday for taking a 14-year-old girl to a hotel and sexually assaulting her, police said Monday. The council member, identified as Mikio Suganuma, 58, of the Social Democratic Party, allegedly approached the 14-year-old girl in front of Kasukabe station on the Tobu line in Saitama, and took her to a hotel where he sexually assaulted her.

The girl reported the incident to police around 1 p.m. on Sunday. Suganuma has admitted to the charge, police said. He was quoted as telling police that he was at the station to meet another girl he had contacted on an Internet dating site, but she hadn't shown up. "I am deeply sorry for what I did."