A man in his 60s who sexually harassed a high school student and tried to pin the crime on his wife has been caught following a supplementary prosecution investigation.

The Criminal Division 1 of the Jeonju District Prosecutors' Office Gunsan Branch (led by Senior Prosecutor Jin Kyeong-seop) announced today (August 18) that it has indicted A without detention on charges of violating the Act on the Protection of Children and Youth against Sexual Abuse (forcible indecent act).

A is accused of visiting a high school in Daejeon on November 4 of last year and touching a high school student, B, in an elevator.

However, the police who investigated the case identified A's wife, rather than A, as the suspect and forwarded the case to the prosecution.

This happened because A's wife made an ambiguous statement during the police investigation, saying, "(I) was next to my husband."

In reality, A's wife was not even inside the elevator at the school at the time of the incident.

The prosecution, having taken over the case, conducted a detailed forensic analysis of seized mobile phones belonging to those involved and confirmed circumstances indicating that A had framed his wife as the culprit.

When police officers called early in the investigation, A asked a female acquaintance who had been in the elevator with him at the time, "Please talk to the police acting as my wife."

He fabricated false facts as if he and his wife had been together at the scene.

Subsequently, for reasons unknown, A's wife made statements during her summons interrogation in a tone that seemed to help her husband, and it was revealed that the police believed this and forwarded the case to the prosecution.

A's wife was recently cleared of charges after the prosecution's supplementary investigation revealed her husband to be the true culprit.

An official from the prosecution said, "The statements of those involved in the case seemed suspicious, so we re-examined the case based on the results of the forensic analysis of seized mobile phones." The official added, "Although we cannot disclose specific details due to concerns over secondary victimization of the sex crime, we confirmed circumstances where the defendant continuously lied from the early stages of the investigation and have brought charges against him."

(Photo: Yonhap News)