A man who allegedly lured young women and girls he met on the Internet to his hotel room and raped them has been arrested in Shanghai.

Huangpu District prosecutors charged the man surnamed Yao with rape.

Two victims, both minors, have made allegations against the man to police but it is suspected there are more victims who are possibly afraid to come forward.

One of the victims, a 13-year-old junior school student, made a "friend" on the Internet last summer and kept in touch with him for about six months.

Yao - the Net friend - tried to invite the girl out a few times and, in January, she agreed to meet him.

On January 1, the girl went out in the morning to meet Yao. She told her mother she was going out with a classmate.

Yao, 25, who was tall and good-looking, told the girl he would be acting in a television advertisement and would attend a screen test that day. He let the girl wait for him in a nearby hotel, saying that it would take some time. The naive girl then followed Yao to the hotel, prosecutors said.

When the girl went into the room, Yao closed the door and asked to have sex with her. The girl refused, but Yao wouldn't let her go. To escape, the girl eventually gave in after being held there for several hours, according to prosecutors.

Yao allegedly activated a video camera and asked the naked girl to face the camera and say she was going to have sex willingly. He then raped her, prosecutors said.

When the girl returned home, she told her mother of her ordeal. Her mother immediately reported the matter to police.

Yao confessed to the police that he knew the age of the girl. He said he usually ordered a room before meeting female Net friends so that the hotel receptionist wouldn't see the young women.

Yao boasted that he had initiated sex with a number of female Net friends and that they were all willing to do this. He also recorded nude pictures of the women in his computer.

Police found another victim, a 17-year-old student, based on information from Yao's confession. The girl said she was forced to have sex with Yao.

She didn't report to the police for fear that her parents would find out. She also met Yao online and they soon arranged to meet. The 17-year-old was also forced to have sex with him, prosecutors said.

The Criminal Law provides that the punishment for those who rape girls under 14 years of age is at least 10 years' imprisonment.

(Shanghai Daily, March 10, 2008)