A 37-year-old American man has been arrested in Bangkok and charged over the rape of a 45-year-old masseuse in Khon Kaen, a crime to which he had confessed but blamed on the influence of drugs, police said yesterday.
Wanted on a warrant issued by the Khon Kaen provincial court, Robert Andrew Gordon was detained on Friday while staying at a hotel in Soi Nana on Sukhumvit Road, said Pol Gen Damrongsak Kittipraphat, a deputy national police chief.
The suspect was charged with serious physical assault, rape and illegally detaining others, in connection with not only the masseuse but also the molestation of a 13-year-old girl, he added.
An investigation by Khon Kaen police concluded that the man raped the masseuse at a Thai massage shop in Muang district on Monday morning, and later that day attempted to rape the girl in Ban Phai district before fleeing on his bike.
The teenager was being sexually assaulted in broad daylight at a roadside stall where she was selling wild honey when a lorry driver witnessed the incident, police said.
She identified the man from photos when her mother took her to the station to lodge a complaint.
The 45-year-old woman, a native of Lop Buri, was working alone on Rob Muang Road when the attack occurred, police said, adding that the man later fled on his motorcycle.
The suspect admitted taking methamphetamine before carrying out the attacks, said the police.