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thedrifter
04-16-08, 08:08 AM
Teen sons of 2 Marines suspected in shoplift
Kyodo News Service
Posted : Wednesday Apr 16, 2008 7:11:01 EDT

NAHA, Japan — U.S. military police have taken into custody two American boys suspected of shoplifting in Okinawa and rejected an initial request by Japanese police to question them, Japanese police sources said Tuesday.

The refusal to allow the Japanese police to question the boys after they were apprehended Sunday might run counter to the Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement, which governs the use of areas and facilities in Japan by U.S. forces.

The boys are the 16-year-old and 17-year-old sons of two Marines stationed in Okinawa.

One of the boys was found in possession of a pair of jeans and two T-shirts at a clothes store in the town of Chatan in the southern part of Okinawa Island on Sunday afternoon, while the other boy was found holding three T-shirts with price tags from a separate store.

Shop clerks seized the two boys, while a third boy who was with them fled from the scene, the sources said.

Japanese police officers arrived at the store about 20 minutes later but were unable to question the two boys as they had already been apprehended and handcuffed by U.S. military police.

The U.S. military police refused to allow the Japanese police to question the boys and took them to a U.S. military base, the sources said.

But the following day, Japanese investigators from Okinawa Police Station were allowed to question the boys. The 17-year-old boy admitted to shoplifting but the 16-year-old denied the allegations, according to Japanese police sources.

On Tuesday, Okinawa Police Station filed a document with the U.S. Marine Corps’ military police, asking them to explain why they took the suspects away and rejected a Japanese police request for questioning.

The increasing number of crimes by U.S. military personnel continues to spark an uproar in Okinawa, where much of the U.S. military presence in Japan is based.

This is the second incident in Japan this month involving the children of U.S. troops. The 16-year-old son of a U.S. airman and the 15-year-old son of a U.S. Marine were arrested April 4 on suspicion of assaulting a taxi driver in Okinawa.

Ellie