Overview
- The indictment names former Saga prefectural lab chief analyst Takahiro Tominaga, 42, on counts of creating and using false official documents and evidence destruction.
- Prosecutors allege nine worksheets filed between August 2023 and July 2024 falsely stated that DNA analyses had been performed for investigations including theft and non-consensual sex.
- Four additional counts accuse him of concealing lost residual samples by substituting items such as gauze between February 2024 and February 2025.
- Saga police previously found 130 problematic cases since 2017 among 632 solo DNA tests and had referred 13 as especially malicious, all of which prosecutors have now charged; his plea has not been disclosed.
- The Asahi Shimbun reports local attorneys are weighing a retrial bid in a drug case after the analyst’s identity became public, while police and prosecutors have said the 130 flagged cases did not affect investigations or trials.