Update: Looking for information about Cristiano de Angelis and the charges against him? please read this (probably far-from-exhaustive) long list of testimonies.
Update (Feb. 2016): Rather than taking a strong look in a mirror and reflect on his life choices, Mr. De Angelis has been spending a large amount of time and resources trying to make these pages disappear from the web (and somewhat succeeding). Good thing URLs can be changed.
Cristiano De Angelis is an Italian-Brazilian “professor” of economics who enjoys travelling.
Cristiano De Angelis is also a sociopathic sexual predator, who raped a 20-year-old woman in Kyoto, sexually assaulted at least one other person and generally behaved like a pathetic excuse for a human being toward all the people unlucky enough to cross his path during his travels through South-East Asia.
Abusing the trust and generosity of people in the Couchsurfing hospitality exchange community and craftily creating new profiles each time, Cristiano De Angelis was able to slip unnoticed from one unsuspecting host to the next. There is no telling (yet) of his actions throughout SE Asia, until his arrival in Kyoto:
M is a 20-year-old Japanese friend of mine, loved and trusted by all her friends: not just the local Kyoto community, but also the many dozens foreign travellers she hosted in her home, out of a sincere desire to exchange with other cultures and make the world a better place for people. It may sound a bit naive, even dangerous, but the Couchsurfing system of trust has worked well for millions of people so far. And while she may not have been as cautious as a young single woman ought to be in her situation, her heart was in the right place and nothing could justify what happened to her.
When she first met Cristiano De Angelis and immediately felt uneasy about his lack of manners and rude behaviour, she should have kicked him out and left it there. But being a gentle, trusting, young person, she felt a responsibility toward him for initially accepting to host him (a sense of obligation he thoroughly used and abused). Instead of using her prerogative to change her mind, she looked past his unpleasantness and tried to be an agreeable host.
In Mr. De Angelis’ sick mind, this probably meant it was not only OK, but even risk-free to slip in her bed the following night and force himself onto her despite her best efforts to push him away: after all, what impressionable 20-year-old would have the courage to make a fuss about being raped by the very man she willfully let stay in her house?
He was right.
Not only did M. feel too helpless to do anything after Cristiano De Angelis raped her, merely relieved to go to sleep (at which point he apparently further undressed her to take pictures), but she kept shut about it for a while, until she progressively confided in a few people and finally told a group of us the whole story in private.
Unfortunately, nothing any of us said could convince M. to file an official police complaint. Like many women in her case, M. felt a part of responsibility and shame for what had happened and thought the best course of action was to move on with her life and “not make a fuss”. You cannot believe how mad this makes me, but it is ultimately her decision to make1Please keep this story in mind the next time you hear some idiot suggest that a rape victim somehow “deserved” it or bears even a part of the blame (for the way she dressed, letting the rapist buy her a drink etc.): decades of blame-the-victim and casual attitude toward rape cases by the Japanese police (greatly improved nowadays, but still strong in people’s minds) are the reason that people like M. will rather keep it to themselves than endure the trouble and perceived humiliation of filing a complaint..
Meanwhile, Cristiano De Angelis did not dwell on things: he promptly moved to Tokyo, where he went on to abuse a new unsuspecting host with behaviours running the spectrum from utter rudeness to sexual harassment, including: bringing back a random girl to have sex at his host’s place (serving her the bottle of champagne his host kept in his fridge) and masturbating on his host’s bed after his sexual advances had been sternly rebuffed2All of this pales by comparison to what he did in Kyoto, but that’s what they call character evidence..
He has since then been sighted in Malaysia, where his antics were fortunately limited to rudeness, casual racism and generally behaving like an arrogant moron. By now, most of the Couchsurfing community in Asia has been warned to look out for him and he should not get another opportunity to abuse the trust and generosity of other unsuspecting hosts. There is unfortunately no guarantee that he will not hurt other people in the future, or that he will ever be made accountable for his crime.
Cristiano De Angelis is not only a rapist, but an unrepentant, repeat offender, with clearly no sense of guilt or remorse. By most people’s account, he is not particularly articulate (euphemism), veering on delusional, which might explain why he never bothered to cover his tracks while committing all this. Or perhaps he just figured that he would be long gone by the time anyone realised what sort of a scumbag he was.
I have no illusion that, back at home (Nice, France, or Padova, Italy, it would seem), Mr. De Angelis is an upstanding citizen, perhaps even liked by his friends and colleagues (he is even a family man, it seems). He is not entirely mistaken in his delusions of impunity: after all, he did get away and will likely not rot in a Japanese cell (or in any other SE Asian country) for a few years like he so richly deserves.
Which is why I am posting this: I do not think I have ever named someone in this manner on this blog, let alone launched such serious accusations, but this is how boiling mad this whole story makes me. If one single person, be it a friend, potential host, prospective employer, ever gets to learn the hideous personality of Cristiano De Angelis through this post (and a little help from Google), it won’t have been a waste of time.
Please spread the word.
If you personally know him and have any doubt about the truth of the above, please do not hesitate to contact me: I will be more than happy to refer you to an arm-length list of direct witnesses who will be glad to corroborate and provide further details. If you have encountered this scum in the past and have any information you feel might be of use to the public, feel free to share below. [Update 01/16/2012:] Better yet, check what all his CS hosts in Asia have to say about him
Update (01/13/2012): After I posted this, my friend M. finally accepted to go together to the police station to file an official complaint:
I just came back from Kyoto Shichijo-Karasuma Police Station, where I took M. to file a formal complaint. Although I of course did not attend the interview itself, what she told me of it was that, according to the police officer, it was “too late to collect physical evidence” and there was therefore nothing to be done (despite mountains of circumstantial evidence and her own word, which should warrant at least some questioning). Judging by the relative brevity of the interview (30-40 minutes), I suspect the officer was not overly motivated in opening a case against a guy long gone from the country, and since M. was rather reluctant to share in the first place, it could not have gone very far.
I was not exactly expecting the Japanese police to send a death squad after that guy through South-East Asia, but one could have hoped that a 20-year-old girl collecting the courage to walk into a police station to report her own rape would get more than a 30-minute interview ending with, I kid you not, advices on how to handle it “the next time it happens” (the next time?!? WTF).
Sad and depressing, but not that surprising.
I guess we can find some solace in the knowledge that Mr. De Angelis might eventually get caught when he does it again3Because he will do it again: sexual predators of his kind, exhibiting such sociopathic tendencies and complete absence of remorse, do not just stop of their own, especially when they feel they will always get away with it.. Until then, if you ever meet Cristiano De Angelis, rapist and scumbag of the earth, do not hesitate to relay my most utter contempt to him.
[Update 01/16/2012:] Still have your doubts and think (rightfully so) that it is too easy for a single person to launch such accusations without proof?
Hi Dave, did you report this to CS? In which way? And if, what was the reaction?
Thx
Pino
Pino: yes, at our insistence, she did report it to CS. Their reaction was somewhat expected but not overwhelming: they deleted the negative review he left her, told her they’d try to ensure he wouldn’t create a new profile and enjoined her to go to the police if possible. In my opinion, that was about the bare minimum, when they could have very easily dug up the guy’s messages, sent warning to all the hosts he had contacted (which they didn’t do, since some only learnt about it when we posted in his planned destinations’ CS groups) and inquired with his *previous* hosts as to whether there was anything more to report…
They didn’t do any of this. Frankly, I’m not impressed.
Well done you for taking the time to write this. In my youth I got trapped by someone like this and did not take it further. I found out years later that the person who had raped and stolen my belonging had been doing this through out europe in the early 80’s.
Shame there are not more pictures of him as I am a teacher in chiang mai and he is the sort of person that should have their photo placed at canters where travels pass though so that may someone would know him and shame or tame him
felicity: I am really sorry to hear this. The world would be a considerably better place if all the people that get abused did not have to think even a second about pursuing these matters (in many places, such as Asia, there are still way too many hurdles for people pressing sexual assault charges)…
And believe it or not, there are more pictures of that guy:
https://www.facebook.com/angelis.cristiano?sk=photos
That’s how incredibly deluded he is about his immunity…
I’m brazilian, and ben on CS from the last 6 years, I’ve travelled a lot and had many CS experiences, the only bad one I’ve had was an Australian half Israeli that was nothing but a young moron looking for a place to crash for free, he spent one night and the next morning I was ready to kick him out of my place, left him a bad review and so did other hostess, being a moron is not a crime so this was the least I could do to keep people alert about what kind of person he was.
What this brazilian did it was a crime and you’re totally right to spread the word, hope he pay for is acts and go to prison, because that’s where he belongs, I already shared this link on my facebook and some friends also did.
Sorry for you friend, send her my love and respect.
Thank God he is not an African guy, hell would have let loose. I salute the courage of your friend and I hope this sad incedence would not affect her future relationship with people. May God bless her for saving the lives of many.
I might know something about the place where he is now but I really need more information before reporting to police..maybe a message from the Japanese police if the fact was reported to it.
I think i know were we can find this guy
The girl went to police?
You should have written the blogpost in less confrontational way. This looks like you almost want to lynch this guy and it actually raises the questions about credibility of the whole incident(s).
@Angel: Just to clarify: I only mentioned his citizenship for the purpose of making him more identifiable (he has been known to change his profile to contact new people, so I wouldn’t put it past him to use a different name). I don’t think his nationality has anything to do with it. Such people exist in absolutely every country. They tend to share the same traits and think themselves above law and morals, just as long as they are far enough from home.
@Alfredo, Alberto: please read my update above.
@DaddyG: you are probably right that I should have made my post more factual and less personal. And I am the first to be circumspect of such recounts when I read them online… But I know M. personally and it is really hard remaining composed when you get to hear all the details of the story, plus the fact he will ostensibly walk away from all this without even a slap on the wrist. To be absolutely clear, no matter how angry I feel about this guy, I do not advocate the use of any violence against him, but I certainly do hope this will contribute to smear his name among the people who may not know this facet of his personality: such a scum should not be allowed to simply go back to their friends/family/employer and act as if nothing had ever happened.
Wow this guy send me a request in Tokyo to stay with me actually. The message and the whole Professor and his story didn’t sound realistic so I ignored the whole message.
A similar incident happened in Turkey before in CS, and the girl went to the police late, similar to this incident. However the police wrote a report and the guy went to court, I am not sure if he got jail time or what happened later, however with the police report, the guy was banned from the CS, and people were checking up often to see he d open duplicate profiles. So there has to be a police report for CS to actually ban the guy.
I do share your anger and understand why the message was very personal, the incident itself is personal, and am sure disgusts any loyal member of CS, and how it will portray future members without references. I can’t even begin to imagine or understand what she is going through.
In my opinion, this girl needs to lawyer up, and needs to go to the authorities with a lawyer rather than alone. In most cases it will be a lot more effective, most of the time, police is unresponsive without a lawyer, and makes up excuses to avoid paper work. With enough people to testify against him ( I am not sure about the laws in Japan, however in Turkey he could go to jail without a medical report of rape incident ) , a warrant can be set against him so he can’t step a foot to Japan again (or get caught if he does at the immigration). From what I’ve read, he did a similar sexual assault to another girl in Tokyo, so there are at least two that can testify against him.
The second path could be after finding where this person lives, with the police report, local newspapers can be contacted with the incident details, and if the word gets out, his family & friends and people around him will know what kind of person he is, and the local government can do something about it.
Also perhaps a message could be posted in countries this person is travelling to avoid any more possible damage this guy can cause to people around the world using CS.
I do hope this guy will get what he deserves but thank you for sharing this and thanks for the bravery of the girl, this could save a possible future victim.
hello Dave,
your initiative on this is commendable and I really feel sorry for M. I am a very active CS host in Singapore. Thank you for the warnings here & over the CS site.
It is rather unfortunate that we had a bad case reported here in SG as well with some other CSer and all the CS guys would do is delete the profile and supposedly not let them create new profiles. Whereas all the correspondence over CS could be used as potential evidence.
Well if he happens to cross my path at SGP ..he is going to trip for sure.
do let M know that we all support her as a fellow CSer.
Pj
Trying to spread the word in Singapore. Appears he is here till the 16th.
Mathew
If his name was Julian Assange or Dominique Strauss Kahn the police would be ALL over it. Since it’s not…
To anyone out there who’s been through something like this, insist on getting the police to take down your report and keep it on file, even if they say there’s nothing they can do.
If he’s eventually caught or a string of others report as well, then it could be useful to authorities such as prosecutors or immigration.
@hakan, @S: agreed: the ideal course of action would be to persevere, get legal counsel and raise hell until somebody does something, but if you’ve read the above, you know why this just isn’t gonna happen: it was difficult enough merely convincing M. to go once, she made it pretty clear she’s not interested in pushing it further (given the pathetic response of the police this time, you can’t blame her for not having much faith in the process…
As I wrote above in the comments, I really do think CS’s handling of such a case is sub-par: there is absolutely *no* good reasons they should need a police report to take action. They have all the logs, the ultra-negative reviews, the many complaints posted by different established CSers and they have the guy’s track record of creating new profiles to fool people: regardless of the rape and any police report, they had/have more than enough to justify banning the guy and taking protective measures against him.
On a related point, I am baffled that CS’s system allows users with negative reviews to simply delete their profile: this is a huge safety breach (that this guy successfully used to circumvent the review system). Such profiles should be automatically frozen, with the negative reviews preserved and the original owner locked out if necessary.
I should add that the reaction of the CS *community* on the other hand has been nothing short of amazing: people everywhere have been spreading the warning, helping members deal with the guy (at the time I wrote this post, he was *still* trying to get hosted by CSers in Kuala Lumpur, if you can believe it) and generally organising a much more efficient defense than admins have until now.
It’s bad. can I post this also in My Country Indonesia? In case he’s here we can recognize him.
This is really sad news. I even met the nice girl when i lived in Kyoto. Hope one day the guy will be facing jail.
Well the news is spreding well through CS comunity.. got to Slovenia by now.. being the neighbour country I really appreciate this.. Send my love to M., and I hope she someday gets the satisfaction to see this guy pay for what he did to her or any other girls.
I am so shocked to read it. I met this person in CS. I helped him find a host(in Faro). Now, I feel so disgusted with myself. I am going to report this person in CS, or anywhere I can find to do so.
It may be an idea to actually start a CS group dedicated to CS “crime”, it seems that a number of these awful people travel wider than any one group spans, this guy contacted me whilst I was in Bristol. If we had a central group then it would raise awareness much faster than if it is only flagged in the group where the incident occured
Wow, I’m glad that ppl have shown compassion for this.
Honestly, sth similar happened to me while I was in Spain when a Morrocan (CS) guy tried to get me drunk…and I don’t know from where I got the strength in that state but I managed to get away.
He has good good references and from what it seems it was a one-tiem slip.
I know this doesn’t make it an excuse but to be honest I just didn’t feel like getting personally involved even more…I didn’t feel like having any connection to his profile anywhere…I didn’t won’t that he knows it was me who accused him of sth…
Luckily after more nicer CS experience I ws able to get over this experience and I’m actually glad it happened because in soem way it has made me more careful.
To sum up, I’d like to say that the issue here is that there are more Cristianos in the world unfortunately and that the important thing is that the word goes around…cuz unfortunately there r always some ppl trying ot abuse a great thing like CS.
I wish all the victims to be able to learn sth from this and most importantly to know it was not their fault!
@Alice: I love your idea.
i’ve just read your post and all related comments – by pure chance i’ve stumbled upon a random CS post on my city group page, whose “soft” title (warning! warning!) arose my curiosity… i normally don’t spend time reading long blog’s post, or even normal ones (even less replying them ), but i don’t regret doing so this time…
firstly, i am sincerely sorry and sad for M. – i really can’t find appropriate words to express my feelings, please just send her all my love. secondly, thank you very much for taking the time to write this – not a very objective report of the story as it has already been said, but also very much understandably so.
i just want to say that this person’s nationality is not irrelevant if it comes to the legal stage. some countries do punish their citizens breaking the law regardless of where this happened – this doesn’t apply to all crimes obviously, but it is sometimes the case for sexual crimes (i.e. involving children, for example). this means this person could go to trial in his country if its laws persecute rape committed abroad, and if he is formally accused obviously – definitely contact a lawyer! i’m not one but i’m sure the report file to the japanese police, as well as any other official document / proof, would come up useful in that case. ***so, M., for how much difficult i can’t even imagine finally stepping into the police office must have been, and although it was an upsetting experience, it was certainly a good and right thing to do. don’t give up!!!***
having said that, i’m really bitterly surprised – to use an euphemism – to hear how little CS does / has done in this case… NOT EVEN SENDING AN ALERT/WARNING MESSAGE TO THE CS MEMBERS HE HAS CONTACTED RECENTLY??? also, i can’t believe they are not using all those data they have (his posts/correspondence over CS, his tracks and all his several profiles, including his references of course) to take action?! i wonder if it is supposedly only the interested person that should take action?! in that case they should at the very least make that big amount of data available as EVIDENCE, as that’s exactly what it is…!
i’m baffled too about the safety breach about negative reviewed profile self-deletion… no further comment to add here 🙁
I met Cristiano in person, thanx to the CS community, during my stay in Italy and I must say I’m astonished with the (un)known facts related here. We socialized in different occasions, he met some of my friends – young women included – @CS events, parties, in Italy and in Portugal, and nothing wrong ever happened.
To be honest, he doesn’t seem to fit in a rapist/ sexual predator profile. It’s just my opinion… Anyway, I would prefer to ‘hear’ both sides before judging someone, shaming them in public.
Hey, i’ve met this person to, in Portugal, he was doing some voluntarie work in a farm, in the south of the country. I must agree that his behaviour was very strange and rude, so i’m not suprised, unfortunately for the people o cross his life.
A friend of mine was date raped in college, but didn’t report it at the time. There really is nothing that the police can do once a few days have passed. Definitely always report a rape at the time…you don’t have to press charges, but in case you ever want to, you need that physical evidence.
hey i met this duchebag in Portugal too, he was talking about settling in in porto (up north)… if any1 wants to find him i think he might still be here …
peace take it easy
Is very easy to judge someone without evidence and using the Couchsurfing website and other networks to spread facts did NOT occur.
What happened was a robbery of a train ticket that is worth 12,700 in her apartment. We spent a night together in the same bed, Yes, and the next morning she even gave me a kiss before going out to work, with all the tranquility and consent.
When I realized that my ticket was not in my wallet, I decided to wait for her to ask about my ticket.
She said she did not know about the ticket, but how come a ticket may be missing from my wallet inside her apartment?
Never thought it would be stolen in Japan and she must be with such a very heavy conscience about it that she decided to make up this story, more than two weeks after we met, without any base.
Hope this clarifies the situation, because I don’t to be charged of something I didn’t commited.
@Christiano: this does not clarify anything.
First, M. did not “make up with this story” 2 weeks after she met you. She was upset from the day you stayed, and she immediately started telling the whole story to her friends. The fact that she was initially reluctant to share her ugly experience had nothing to do with “tranquility and consent” and everything to do with your aggressiveness and her being traumatised by the experience.
How about letting her say in her very own words what happened during your stay? This is one of the first message she sent me the day after you left:
Go ahead and pretend there is a single lie in there. I dare you.
And before you try to imply that a girl with over 50 glowing positive references on her profile, including more than 30 people she hosted, all heaping praise on her kindness and hospitality, that this girl somehow “stole your 12,700 yen train ticket”, please first go to one of the many CS threads, like this one and explain why every single person who has interacted with you has found you distrustful, repellent and a horrible guest… That you would even attempt to cover your behaviour by making up this sort of inane story is just pathetic.
Tell you what, though: how about you come back to Kyoto and the three of us go clear that out at the local police station? I’m sure by now you have realised that nothing will happen to you as long as you stay out of Japan, but I can assure you things will be a lot different if you are sitting beside that police desk the next time we go over there. Hell, I’m sure we can start a fund to pay your ticket here.
We both know you will not be back to Japan, nor to any of the hosts whose kindness you have abused. You will go straight home, far from the mess you’ve made, thinking none of it can follow you. Let me assure you this page and the reputation you’ve made yourself will follow you…
… if is a real professor in santa caterina that link can be useful:
http://www.cpge.ufsc.br/dissertacoes_defendidas_prof_jeanluc.html
now we know al the personal details, name, surname, city where he lives in Brasil, place where he works and telephone numbers etc etc.
In the meantime I think is also a good idea someone wll post everything about this sick person in the Brazil forum and especially in the local Santa Caterina Cs local forum. Every one in the country where he lives and in the city where is working now should know what kind of person he really is.
Moreover I think is time that the real hunt will start now!!!!!
Let go people let go there, let organise a CS global meeting there for February. CS for all around the world expecially from Japan let meet there and let teach a good lesson from real to this ‘professor’. Hi personally wanna see hum crying like a baby under my punches….
castrate the bastard!
For better or worse, I believe people are innocent until proven guilty. Unfortunately without any supporting evidence or additional accounts, your comments are unfounded allegations. And, thanks to your post, I now know more about Cristiano than I know about you. How do I know your own intentions are not malicious?
Thank you for the warning and I will be careful, however, Cristiano must be given and should exercise his right of reply. I would be very interested to hear his defence and equally interested to hear the outcome of your and any additional police complaints.
It really sucks that we hear story like this but sadly it happens.
I was a rape victim, not Csing and I know how hard it is to admit to yourself what happened and I don’t blame her for taking that long to report it and how hard it is to actually do it.
Just please tell her that she’s incredibly strong for that and because she came forward , she is helping other potential victims. Thank her for that.
@Raquel: thanks for sharing and I am glad nothing bad ever happened in your interactions. As I wrote myself: I am sure he can be a perfectly normal, well-adjusted individual… Most sexual predators are (which is not my saying that “appearing normal” makes you one, just that it really doesn’t mean much either way).
You are not the only person who had pleasant, non-confrontational, interactions with him (at least one other CSer hosted him in Europe a year ago and deemed him a nice-enough guest to leave a positive review). However, I invite you to read through the CS threads in Asian cities he has visited and directly contact some of the people he has stayed at, if you want: at the *very best*, people found him mildly unpleasant, rude and aggressive… In many cases, he was a lot worse.
It is not for me to tell you why he suddenly started behaving like he did: whether this is some sort of psychotic break or if he just thinks of Asia as a personal playground where he can let his id run free without consequences… but the facts are: he did.
@Andy: I think you, me and dozens others know her. She’s been an incredibly active and dedicated member of Kyoto CS since the moment she got involved, which makes this story all the more enraging. Unfortunately, there’s close to zero chance that the guy will ever be facing jail time (for this particular action), which is why I posted this.
@Sanya: I am sorry to hear what happened to you, and your reaction was very understandable… but I hope you realise why it is so essential to not let such things slide. If you ever encounter that type of behaviour again, you should not show the slightest mercy. It is one thing when a friend or somebody you know does this, but when a traveller/CSer behaves that way, you can be near-certain that it is neither his first or last time. People like the guy who assaulted you, or Cristiano De Angelis, get away with their actions, because they never do these things twice in the same place: they rely on the fact people prefer to forget a one-time incident that go the trouble of reporting it. When you dig a bit deeper like we did with this guy, you realise it’s not one isolated incident, but a pattern of sociopathic behaviours…
@giula: thanks for your kind words and support for M.
As best as I know, none of De Angelis’ actions do fall under the cover of international laws (other than having him extradited back to Japan for his actions here). And unfortunately, as I explained above, the Japanese police has not been very keen on making the extra effort (him having left the country and 2 weeks having gone by…) and M. is more reluctant than ever to pursue the matter further (like many people in her case, she really just wants to move on… a major reason for her deciding to file a complaint, was realising that he might abuse other people if nobody stopped him)…
And yes: while CS community has been absolutely amazing, supportive and fast in their response, CS management’s official handling of the case has been and remains extremely disappointing. CS’ policy of doing close-to-nothing without a copy of a police report is simply baffling to me: any service in the world (not just services that deal with such important physical safety issues) will look into a customer complaint, regardless of police involvement, and take action if necessary. Here: M. sent a complaint shortly after the attack, long before I posted this, yet many CS hosts (who had accepted to host him and/or were about to meet him) only learnt about this when we posted a warning in CS groups ourselves. This is unacceptable. Nobody is asking CS to indict the guy or even accuse him of any crime, but his persistent behaviour and abuse of the CS system should be more than enough to warrant banning him from CS and warning the people he has contacted before.
@martino, @lucia and everybody else who might understandably feel angry to the point of physical violence against this scumbag: I know these are just words that most of you would probably never act on, but let me be very clear about something: I am not advocating any violence or illegal action toward this guy, no matter how much I would want to punch him myself. The legal system exists for a reason, and no matter how pissed I am that it has failed in this particular instance, my goal with this post is not to start a lynch mob and get our own justice. I only want two things: 1) warn people and make sure this guy can never find a CS host ever again. 2) make his unspeakable actions stick to his name, so that he does not have the luxury to go back to a “normal” life and pretend to be the upstanding citizen I am sure many people know him as.
There have been some talk here and there about the fact that, in the absence of a legal conviction (and there likely won’t be any in this particular case), it is abusive and misleading to call him a “rapist” as I do, instead of, say, “alleged rapist” or “accused rapist”. I think these are very legitimate concerns and I have given careful consideration to it. I deliberately chose to voice my post without such cautious wording because I am neither a judge, nor a journalist: if someone kills somebody in front of you or in front of a person whose word you trust intimately, he is not an “accused killer” or a “presumed killer”, to you he is a killer… regardless of whether a court convicts and deems him punishable by the law. These are two separate things.
Of course, the legal system is built to defend innocent people against baseless accusations, and there is a very simple way for Cristiano De Angelis to defend his good name (other than posting some very unconvincing retort in these comments): I eagerly await Mr. De Angelis lawsuit for defamation with open arms! Let him come to Japan and go with me and my friend to the nearest police station. Because when he is sitting at a police desk in Japan and the police is actually forced to look into the testimonies and evidence, I doubt things would go in a direction he would like…
@Sascha
I’m sorry but I’m gladly believe the words of this blogger ANYDAY over Cristiano’s as there as MULTIPLE CS users who have reported rude, lewd and strange behaviour from this so-called professor. You would have realised that if you bothered reading the threads that Dave posted in his reply to Cristiano. These accounts are coupled with the fact that this man keeps deleting his profile after each visit, please use some rationality.
As for M’s delay in informing the authorities: as an Asian woman living in one of the most developed South-East Asian countries, I can honestly say that rape is STILL considered a taboo subject and there is still a prevalent habit of blaming the victim. What more in Japan, that has such a skewed view on sexual harrassment?
http://www.tuj.ac.jp/newsite/main/law/lawresources/TUJonline/SexualDiscrimination/tsunodasexualharrassment.html
http://www.japantoday.com/category/lifestyle/view/victims-are-finally-learning-to-speak-out-against-japan’s-outdated-rape-laws
Even though I wish she had gone straight to the police, I can completely empathise with M for not having the courage to go to the authorities immediately because I can understand the thoughts that must have crossed her mind, wondering if her claim would have even been taken seriously. I hope that M finds the strength to heal and find peace again.
Instead of questioning what M did AFTER the alleged attack, we should realise that it should not have happened in the first place. A single woman giving consent for a man to stay in her house DOES NOT make it fine for him to rape her. Under any circumstances, no means no.
If he really did rape a woman simply because she was being nice, I would very much like to beat him to death. Sorry. I know violence is not condoned.
I think your post should be a warning to all CSers that welcoming people with open arms doesn’t mean you should be prepared to knee them in the groin. Everywhere that trust is abundant, there is an opportunity for abuse, and there are certainly no lack of opportunists out there.
Anyone who abuses trust in the manner of the accused shames their family, their parents, their friends and anyone who associates with them.
I feel strongly for M, and your efforts to speak out for justice. She is very brave to find her voice in a culture that women are culturally innoculated to be subservient. I hope that she finds strength in overcoming her ordeal.
Sorry typo
…welcoming people with open arms doesn’t mean you SHOULDN’T be prepared to knee them in the groin…
Which I realize is probably a bit confusing as a sentence, so to clarify, people should be prepared to protect themselves, and knee predators in the groin.
ahh..unfortunately, it looks like when the guy saw this post and commented on it, he saw your link to his photos and now the link doesn’t work. :/
Thank you for typing all this up–I am not involved in couchsurfing myself (at least, not yet–I have a travel-the-world plan in reserve that would involve CS) but I posted the link to this article on my Facebook, asking everyone to spread the word. Hopefully the information will eventually get to someone who will be able to actually do something about him…..i’m not going to specify what, but i hope for their sake(s) that they keep it legal.
ohh, found another good link about him….you may wanna make sure you have copies of multiple pictures downloaded, and screenshots of the website, in case he deletes this too.
set up a donation portal, collection donations, hire a bounty hunter to drag him back to Japan and hand him over to the yakuzas.
Talked to a couple contacts i have in immigration here in Thailand. If he decides to come here, he will be tracked. My friends throughout Khao San rd have all all his details and are on the lookout. I also spread the word to Pattaya, Phuket and Chiang Mai. His face and name have been sent throughout Thailand. He is not welcome here. Keep up the good work exposing the scumbags in the world.
@BangkokGuy: the guy is currently in Singapore and apparently scheduled to go back to Europe (through Paris) in a few days. Unfortunately, all this only came to light on the tail-end of his 3-month trip through Asia. I have some serious fears that his actions in Japan were no different from the way he behaved in other SE Asian countries before (others might simply have been too afraid to speak up).
He not only has *already* been to Thailand, he even posted on the CS forums there:
http://www.couchsurfing.org/group_read.html?language_locale=tr_TR&gid=10379&post=10461228
http://www.couchsurfing.org/group_read.html?language_locale=tr_TR&gid=12543&post=10506715
If you have ties with the CS community there, you may want to ask around for people who may have interacted with him, possibly hosted him… and make sure there are no other issues we are not aware of.
[slanderous and unsourced comment likely posted by an impostor removed. — Dave]
Yes, he was in Portugal(in Algarve). If only I had knew back then, i would have hit him a few punches myself. Read what some people here have to say.
http://www.couchsurfing.org/group_read.html?gid=1433&post=11100419
I wrote an e-mail to his MA thesis adviser [1] Jean-Luc Rosinger at Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina and his dissertation adviser [2] Cipriano Forza at Università degli Studi di Padova. I also wrote to [3] Mauri Luiz Heerdt, the dean of his employer, UNISUL, and [4] DUVANIER Paiva Ferreira, the secretary of human resources at his other employer, MPOG Brasil. The email includes a link to Dave’s blog post and asks that they investigate these serious allegations.
If I could I would also contact his wife to let her know the kind of guy that is the father of her baby, but he took down his facebook profile, so tracking her down might be a bit difficult, especially since I don’t read Portuguese. Hopefully some helpful anon can do something about that. Also, his parents.
I don’t know if these are the most appropriate people to contact, but if you want to try someone else, please do. Ultimately he has to be held responsible by his own professional and personal community.
This guy disgusts me. It’s douchebags like this that give other CS users a bad name and potentially endanger a community program such as CS from continuing. These are all serious allegations and I am sorry for M. and what she had to go through because of that guy. I DO hope he has the gall to come back to Japan (he seems pretty arrogant and so sure of himself, he might attempt it) and gets caught.
On another note, this sight popped up when I googled his name and there seems to be a lot of photos of him with his family and newborn baby (WTF):
http://www.professorangelis.org
…professor angelis my ass.
That SOAB better not appear anywhere near my city. I would love to beat him to a pulp.
It makes me insanely furious to hear about this and to see he even has the gall to accuse her of anything.
Dave congratulations for posting this. I hope your friend M is going to be OK. I have been in CS for 3 years and only once had a near miss. My soon to be host was removed from CS. His profile seamed OK. Than he vanished from CS after he was going to host me. In KL the CS person I met up with told me the story. He drugged 2 surfers then Apparently raped them. So im glad I did not stay with him. The CS world is amazing and a safe place after you have brought this scum bag to our attention. All the best to M. Thank you for this post.
Wow! So he got free accommodation, free food, forced her to sex, accused her of stealing, wrote bad reviews about her and now coming back to counter accuse. His lack of remorse show that he’s only capable of doing something even worse. This is a criminal behavior and you’re doing the right thing to name and shame him. There should be such a policing mechanism at work in CS to keep the community safe and thriving.
I too have been hosted by a friend (of 5 years) who tried to force himself on me repeatedly. Imagine I had to run to another room and try to shut the door, while he pushed against and I was screaming. He used a mixture of physical force and friendly smile to assure me he was just showing love. Some people just can’t contain their feelings (which is what leads to rape, theft, robbery, killing) ad they should know it is the beginning of crime. Girls who encounter such borderline criminal behavior in friends should give him a slap or a kick and ask him to wake up.
that is a very horrible thing to happen and it is really even more than horrible if the same person manages to act in this rude and even criminal ways more than once.
also i am not favoring a general “witch-hunting” i think the idea of a cs-“crime”-groupe is not a bad one. afterwards its still everybody’s own buisnes how to judge information given there, but at least it would prevent accusations from disappearing as easily as profiles apparently can.
therefore i want to ask if such a group does already exist and if yes could anybody please post a link ?
please tell m. i’m terribly sorry for what happened to her :((((