The Osaka District Public Prosecutor's Office on Friday indicted Kentaro Kitagawa, a lawyer and former head of the prosecutor's office in western Japan, for sexually assaulting a then subordinate in 2018.

Kitagawa, 64, was arrested by the Osaka High Public Prosecutor's Office last month.

He is suspected of sexually assaulting the woman, who was intoxicated, at his then official residence between late night on Sept. 12, 2018, and the small hours of the following day, according to the indictment. Kitagawa was chief prosecutor at the Osaka district prosecutor's office at the time.

After leading the Osaka district prosecutor's office from February 2018 to November 2019, Kitagawa retired several years before the standard retirement age.

Before assuming the top post at the Osaka district prosecutor's office, he held positions such as head of the criminal investigation division at the Osaka office, head of the Naha District Public Prosecutor's Office in Okinawa Prefecture, deputy head of the Osaka High Public Prosecutor's Office, and head of the criminal investigation division of the Supreme Public Prosecutor's Office.