Yoshitomo Kaneda, Actor, Stuntman, Talent Agent, Sexually Abused Teen, Say Prosecutors

By Dennis Romero Fri., Jun. 1 2012 at 1:53 PM

Yoshitomo Kaneda / Facebook

Yoshitomo Kaneda, an actor, stuntman and talent agent who says he has appeared in Letters From Iwojima, Collateral and ER, has been hit with allegations that he cornered and sexually abused a 16-year-old aspiring model, the L.A. city attorney's office announced today.

Prosecutors say the 45-year-old attacked the teen after she came to his home for Japanese lessons.

According to a statement from the office, on Feb. 22 Kaneda ...

... allegedly sexually abused an aspiring model, who was attending his acting/modeling school, after taking her to his apartment to teach her Japanese. At his apartment, Mr. Kaneda allegedly gave the victim a massage and sexually molested her. Following the alleged incident, Mr. Kaneda allegedly left several incriminating voice messages on the voice mails of both the mother and manager of the victim.

On his Facebook page, Kaneda says he also teaches karate.

Another website advertising his services says he's a 5 foot, 7 inch " .. actor, voice-over actor, [and] dance and fight choreographer."

The exact charges, according to the city attorney's statement today, include six criminal counts:

... Child molestation, sexual battery, sexual penetration by a foreign object, false imprisonment, and dissuading a witness.

Prosecutors say Kaneda could get up to 2 years in jail if convicted. He's due in court June 7.

City Attorney Carmen Trutanich weighed in on this one:

No business, including the entertainment business, can tolerate persons who prey upon vulnerable and trusting clients. Talent agents, actors and others, who violate that trust and engage in such egregious acts, will be prosecuted to the utmost.

[@dennisjromero / djromero@laweekly.com / @LAWeeklyNews]

Tags:

actor, City Attorney, molestation, sex abuse, sex crimes, talent agent, teen

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jegonus

Child abuse? Ridiculous. She's sixteen! Many "children" that age are
married and having kids throughout the world. I'm sure she realized that
he didn't have the pull she thought he had and retaliated after giving
consent, which she is certainly capable of. Dumb, dumb, dumb. Waste of
our tax dollars. And another actor blacklisted. Dumb.

donbiki

This guy's a sick pervert. A douche. Let him rot.

His acquaintance, stunt, is also a brother of famus Japanese porn star who lived in LA. He is also teaching karate in LA. In this generation of Japanese, there are lots of crazy guys.

Sati

He is Korean Japanese.His hometown has much Korean Japanese. Moreover, the blog of his Japan shows that he likes YuNa Kim, K-POP, and tae kwon do. A common Japanese does not become liking about YuNa Kim which turns against Mao Asada.

Amsdam48

As other commentators said, this man is not Japanese but Korean. According to his blog, he lives in Korean Town of LA, likes Korean food, and plays Taekwondo. Kaneda is the most popular name which Koreans named Kim prefer to adopt when they get the Japanese passport. As most US citizens know, Koreans are notorious for this kind of sexual crime.

___

Most US citizens know Koreans are sexual predators? I think you got your Asian stereotypes mixed up. Citizens of this world is well aware of sexual depravity of Japanese folks...this one's Korean of Japanese cultural background. Don't try your race-baiting.

Dennis Romero

Thanks for the info. Just for the record I didn't say he was Japanese. Cops SAY he was teaching Japanese.

Ellie

The family name "Kaneda ("金田" in Kanji) is one of the typical type of Korean living in Japan.In Korean, 金 =Kim. He's not 100% Japanese.I don't know why but only Koreans allowed to change their name into something like Japanese name even on ID, like driver's license.