New Taipei censured for not preventing sex offender from running Go class

Taipei, March 4 (CNA) The Control Yuan on Wednesday censured the New Taipei City Government for lapses in oversight after the city failed to prevent a sex offender from running a Go class where he was found guilty of molesting 12 children.

The man, surnamed Lee (李), remains in custody awaiting retrial after the Supreme Court last month returned the case to the Taiwan High Court, which in October handed him a 21-year prison sentence for molesting 12 children at an unlicensed Go class.

Lee's criminal history only came to light when the New Taipei District Court sentenced him to 22 years in March last year.

The district court's verdict also revealed that Lee was previously imprisoned in 2010 for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old minor and another person.

After being released in 2014, he underwent four years of mandated rehabilitation that ended in 2018. These revelations subsequently prompted a Control Yuan investigation into the actions of the city government.

The city government was negligent in its community oversight and risk evaluation of sex offenders, as well as in its inter-departmental coordination to prevent further offenses, noted the Control Yuan report, conducted by Control Yuan members Chi Hui-jung (紀惠容), Yeh Ta-hua (葉大華) and Chang Chu-fang (張菊芳).

According to the report, Lee had been illegally operating the Go class in Tucheng District since 2019, while still on a government monitoring list that required police to conduct regular visits after his mandated rehabilitation ended, until June 2021.

New Taipei authorities remained oblivious to Lee's behavior until parents alerted the city's authorities in August 2024, the Control Yuan report said.

Tucheng Police Precinct had no records on any visits to Lee's residence after March 21, 2021, and he began molesting students from April 2021, according to remarks by the Control Yuan at a press conference Wednesday.

The Control Yuan also found flaws in New Taipei City's reporting mechanism, which subjected the victims and their parents to a 13-hour process of interviews, as they were directed between police stations, hospitals, and the Women and Children Protection Brigade, and had to recount their experiences multiple times at each location.

In response, the city government told CNA that the Education Department conducted an inspection of Lee's cram school with police the day after receiving reports of the case in 2024, seized evidence, imposed a fine and ordered it to suspend operations.

An official with the city Social Welfare Department, which oversees the monitoring of released sex offenders, said that once the statutory monitoring period ends, there is no legal authority to take further action.

The official added that it was not until a 2023 amendment to the Sexual Assault Crime Prevention Act that authorities were authorized to resume intervention measures if an assessment determines there is a risk of reoffending.

The legislation also mandates psychological treatment, counseling, and introduces electronic monitoring, the official said, adding that these measures strengthen supervision of sex offenders.