Suspect in blackmail case turns out to be victim with intellectual disability

A young man who was initially forwarded to prosecutors by police as a suspect in an attempted blackmail case has been revealed, through a supplementary investigation, to be an intellectually disabled victim subjected to brutal torture and threats.

A police patrol vehicle [JOONGANG ILBO]

A young man who was initially forwarded to prosecutors by police as a suspect in an attempted blackmail case has been revealed, through a supplementary investigation, to be an intellectually disabled victim subjected to brutal torture and threats.

The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office announced Thursday that it had indicted another man on charges of aggravated blackmail and joint blackmail under the Punishment of Violences Act, a violation of the Welfare of Persons with Disabilities Act and fraud. Another man was indicted without detention as an accomplice.

From November 2022 to March 2023, the pair allegedly harassed an intellectually disabled man (PARK) and forced him to take out 70 million won ($51,000) in loans, which they then extorted. They also extorted hundreds of thousands of won from the victim's mother and junior acquaintance.

According to prosecutors, the suspects poured water over the victim's face while covering it with a towel and burned a plastic straw with a lighter, dropping the melted plastic onto the back of the victim's hand in order to force him to take out a large loan.

They also deceived the victim's mother by pretending to be his creditors and obtained 3.5 million won from her. In a separate incident, they lured his junior acquaintance and intimidated that person into handing over 2.95 million won.

Initially, police had forwarded the victim to prosecutors as a co-conspirator on charges of aiding and abetting blackmail, based on the claim that he had brought his junior acquaintance to the two alleged perpetrators as a potential victim.

However, during supplementary investigation, prosecutors found that the victim's intellectual disability — with an IQ of 43 and a social age of 7 years and 3 months, according to a psychological evaluation by the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office — made it realistically impossible for him to have knowingly participated in the crime. He was not indicted.

Prosecutors also confirmed that the two suspects used the victim as leverage, threatening his mother by saying they would not release him unless she repaid his supposed debt — and added a charge of fraud accordingly.

Furthermore, the initial police charges of simple blackmail were revised to aggravated and joint blackmail, and charges under the Welfare of Persons with Disabilities Act were added to enable the court to issue an employment restriction order for institutions related to people with disabilities.

Translated from the JoongAng Ilbo using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff. BY JUNG SI-NAE [yoon.soyeon@joongang.co.kr]