Tokyo metropolitan police have issued an arrest warrant for the former general manager of the Grand Hyatt Tokyo hotel located in Roppongi Hills, after he allegedly attempted to forcibly kiss a female guest.
According to the arrest warrant issued Tuesday, on May 30, the general manager, Antonio Alvarez, 45, who is from Spain, allegedly took a female guest in her 20s into a hotel multipurpose restroom and tried to kiss her, Sankei Shimbun reported Wednesday. He also allegedly exposed himself to her, according to police.
Alvarez, who became general manager last December, resigned on Aug 7 and left Japan for an undisclosed location. Police said he will be arrested if he returns to Japan.
An acquaintance of the woman contacted police who said that Alvarez voluntarily cooperated with police at first, Sankei reported. Police said he denied having done anything inappropriate and that he was only giving the woman directions to the restroom.
However, police said that a DNA analysis of a substance taken from the woman's clothing matched the suspect's, Sankei reported.
Japanese media reported Wednesday that the hotel has issued a formal apology to the public for having caused such an inconvenience and pledged to continue to manage its hotels with the safety and security of its guests as top priority.
© Japan Today
34 Comments
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StormR
So now there is a job vacancy as GM for Grand Hyatt, where do we apply ?
zubrach
A very broad interpretation of multipurpose restroom
papigiulio
Huh? He only kissed her and exposed himself to her, or is there something else that we haven't been told? Or he kissed her clothes?
Wakarimasen
Another shocker. i know this bloke. He is a little oily and all, but still. My favourite hotel in tokyo now besmirched by this. I can't help feeling there is more to this than meets the eye. He must see thousands of young women a month passing through. why he would choose to try and molest this one is not clear from the story.
rickyvee
@papi
i think he may have shot his "#$" and therefore left evidence on her clothes.
but what a strange thing for a GM to do.
oyatoi
It was a language misunderstanding! He was only trying to show her his etchings.
ogtob
You mean this guy? http://www.japantoday.com/category/podcast/view/kamasami-kong-interviews-antonio-alvarez-of-grand-hyatt-tokyo The curse of Roppongi Hills strikes again.
Green85
How does any sexual attacker choose his victim, out of those others he must have walked past on a dark night? Or out of the other girls at the party? I worry this comment implies she must have done something to bring this on, I might be wrong and apologies if so, but it left me with that feeling.
nath
i agree seems odd that he suddenly lost the plot with this poor victim. Pressure of work? sure might be wro9ng to blame the "victim" but remeber that we have seen tons of stories in Japan where people have made false allegations of groping or similar.
Kaerimashita
Hmmmm. i am planning to stay at the Hyatt next month. will have to watch for any inappropriate behaviour on the part of their lovely receptionists......
khulifi
Why did he escape ... if the killer in Japan get suspended sentence only
smithinjapan
Odd story indeed, and why did they already have the guy's DNA on file? or did they take it after the arrest? In any case, who's to say it wasn't some stray hair or a flake of skin from perhaps touching her on the shoulder or shaking hands?
If he really did these things, then good on the police for going after him. Now, had he been doing this for a while or did he just suddenly do it the once, for some reason?
Badge213
Maybe when he tried to kiss her saliva got onto the victim. Who knows, but there are many ways. As mentioned in the article, >>An acquaintance of the woman contacted police who said that Alvarez voluntarily cooperated with police at first<< so maybe during this time DNA was taken.
Sasaki Hiroshi
Nothing odd at all. He left Japan because he knew it was coming.
Goals0
This was on the Mainichi TV news yesterday. A male friend was going to be meeting her at the hotel.
The DNA was from his saliva apparently. They even attempted to interview him on the street,
from before he left Japan, but unsurprisingly he had "NO comment."
Charles Noguhi
Even though not always enforced, be sure to read the first line. It says 'allegedly attempted.' Suspects are innocent unless proven guilty. That has many meanings in many countries, but at this point it is alleged.
If we don't constantly remind people and stand firm about this point, society will revert to the days in many places in the world where you were arrested in the afternoon and found guilty the next morning.
Americanhonor
This needs to be carefully assessed, he left Japan quite a while ago, how come the so called victim only recently reported it, in Japan they would have readily arrested a foreigner on this allegation immediately on suspicion. The article then states they have DNA matching his? how since he wasnt arrested and they could not have had a blood or decent hair sample of his... this story is suspect. maybe it did hsppen, but something does not sound quite right here.
Goals0
No. The arrest warrant was issued Tuesday, yesterday. The incident happened on May 30. From the Mainichi report I think the woman and her male friend went immediately to the police in May. Of course we need to suspend a little bit our judgement but it's looking very much as if Alvarez was guilty.
FightingViking
Would they consider a "lady GM" ?
Moderator
The victim reported the incident on May 30, the day it occurred.
Serrano
"he will be arrested if he returns to Japan"
He won't be arrested then.
jerseyboy
The Japanese version of Monica Lewinsky's famous blue dress. Hate to sound so cavalier about this, as any kind of sexual harrassment/assault is a serious crime, but Hyatt is lucky this happened in Japan. If it happened in any major city in the U.S. or Europe it would likely hurt their business significantly due to the higher numbers of female business travelers there.
DaDude
Way to throw away your career.......
JTDanMan
'Cause nothing says hospitality like flashing the Full Monty.
This guy is obviously a weirdo. I hope he gets help.
Marilyn Marie Lee
There are guys who are very arrogant and think that they can get away with it. Now they will learn to restrain themselves.
jerseyboy
In other words they rushed him out of Japan before any formal charges could be filed and Hyatt would have to handle the negative publicity a trial would bring.
Genki/Flash
They say innocent until proven guilty, run, and its guilty until proven innocent!! He ran, end of story!!
sensei258
Of course I don't condone sexual assault, and this belongs in the "what the hell was he thinking" file. But, if train gropers and police in Japan have taught us anything, it's that running is the best response guilty or not.
Kobuta Chan
If this happened in US and the Hotel has to settle millions of dollars for compensation to his victim.
GalapagosnoGairaishu
Makes you wonder how many times he got away with it, before a woman raised a fuss.
serendipitous
What an idiot. Acting like the luxury hotel he ran was a love hotel.
toshiko
Hyant should follow Abe's advise and employ female GM. No wonder Abe promote female managers. Haven't read female pervert stories in JT.