FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE   FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2008

Contact: Frank Mateljan
(213) 978-8340

CITY ATTORNEY SECURES FOUR-YEAR JAIL SENTENCE FOR MAN WHO SECRETLY FILMED WOMEN IN BATHROOM, ENGAGED IN DUPLICATION OF CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

LOS ANGELES – Los Angeles City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo, the City’s chief prosecutor, today announced his office has secured a criminal conviction and four-year jail sentence against a Los Angeles man who secretly filmed women as they used his bathroom, and engaged in the duplication of child pornography on his laptop computer.

Koichi Tamura, 35, pled no contest to eight criminal counts – including duplication and possession of child pornography and committing multiple invasions of privacy – and was sentenced by Judge James Bianco to serve four years in jail and six years of probation. Tamura will also be required to undergo two years of psychiatric counseling and comply with lifetime sex offender registration.

An investigation of Tamura began in May following a police report by one of the female victims in the case. Police investigated whether Tamura had been secretly filming persons while they were using the bathroom at his Mid-Wilshire apartment. In the course of the investigation, LAPD Operations West Bureau Sexual Assault Unit, Registration

Prosecutors and police expedited the investigation when they learned that the suspect, a Japanese citizen, was scheduled to leave the country on June 22. Working in cooperation with the LAPD, prosecutors filed the case and obtained a $250,000 arrest warrant while a search warrant was being prepared. REACT officers executed the search warrant at the time of the arrest on June 19th. Forensic review of seized materials by the Electronic Crimes Task Force resulted in the discovery of child pornography on Tamura’s laptop computer. Additional child pornography was discovered on DVD’s among Tamura’s personal belongings.

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