Convicted Taichung child molester charged with crimes against 19 more

Taipei, April 2 (CNA) A Taichung elementary school baseball coach convicted of 90 sexual offenses against minors last year and given a suspended sentence in 2004 for molesting three children was indicted again on Wednesday.

The man, surnamed Sung (松), was indicted on charges of rape, forced indecency, as well as producing and holding sexually explicit content of minors, after prosecutors identified 19 additional victims, all under the age of 14, the Taichung District Prosecutors Office said.

Sung was convicted of 90 counts of sexual offenses against 32 minors in July 2025 by the Taichung District Court and sentenced to prison terms ranging from three years and six months to eight years and six months, with the combined sentence undetermined.

The offenses included seven counts of sexual assault, 46 offenses of forced indecency, three counts of opportunistic indecent assault, and 34 instances of causing minors to be depicted in electronically generated sex-related content.

The Taiwan High Court's Taichung branch upheld the ruling in November after an appeal.

The case came to light when a parent filed a complaint in October 2024.

Sung had previously been convicted of molesting three young boys in 2004, but he was handed a sentence of two years in prison that was suspended for five years, on the basis that he admitted to the charges and reached settlements with the victims.

He therefore served no time and was not placed on the list of sexual offenders by the Ministry of Education, according to court documents.

According to authorities, the Taichung elementary school that hired Sung in 2018 failed to carry out adequate background checks.