Marine arrested in rape of 14-year-old girl

[thedrifter]

Marine arrested in rape of 14-year-old girl
By Chisaki Watanabe - The Associated Press
Posted : Monday Feb 11, 2008 17:20:09 EST

TOKYO — A Marine was arrested Monday for allegedly raping a Japanese schoolgirl in southern Japan, but the suspect denied he raped the teenager, police said.

Police officers arrested Staff Sgt. Tyrone Luther Hadnott, a 38-year-old Marine stationed at Camp Courtney in Okinawa, Japan’s southernmost prefecture (state), on a charge of raping the 14-year-old girl, an Okinawa police official said.

The arrest stirred memories of mass protests in Okinawa in 1995 following the rape of another schoolgirl by three U.S. servicemen.

Hadnott, whose hometown was not immediately available, is accused of attacking the girl in a parked car in a town in central Okinawa Sunday evening, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity, citing policy.

Okinawa police took the Marine into custody for investigation, he said. Hadnott has not been charged.

“I can never forgive such a crime, especially when the victim is a junior high school student,” Okinawa Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima said. “I feel anger.”

“This is extremely regrettable,” said Japanese Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura. Tokyo has asked Washington to tighten discipline among its troop based in Japan to prevent such crimes from taking place, Komura said.

U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said that any case of alleged sexual assault is taken seriously by the U.S. The U.S. is working closely with Japanese authorities, he told reporters on Monday.

Another local police official told The Associated Press that the girl met Hadnott on Sunday and accepted a ride on his motorbike after he offered to take her home. The Marine took her to his house instead. When the teenager started crying he said he would drive her home, and it is at this point that the girl claims he raped her in a car, the official said on condition of anonymity, citing policy.

Hadnott told investigators he forced the girl down and kissed her, but that he did not rape her, the official said.

“We are aware of the serious allegations in Okinawa overnight and are closely monitoring the situation while fully cooperating with Japanese officials,” Lt. Gen. Bruce Wright, commander of U.S. Forces in Japan, said in a statement.

“If the allegations are true, our hearts are with the victim and family,” he said.

Under a mutual security pact, the United States has about 50,000 troops deployed around Japan.

Most of them are based on Okinawa and tensions there over troop-related crime and disputes over land use are endemic.

Although the marine’s arrest has been top news in Japan, there was no sign of unrest or protests Monday, a national holiday.

The three Americans convicted of rape in 1995 each served prison terms of six and a half to seven years.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

`Unforgivable rape` angers Japan


TOKYO, 02/12 - Okinawans have protested against previous attacks by US marines Japan`s prime minister has described the alleged rape of a 14-year-old girl by a US marine as "unforgivable".

Marine Tyrone Hadnott, 38, is being questioned in relation to the alleged assault on the island of Okinawa.

He denies raping the girl in his car on Sunday night, but police say he has admitted forcing her to kiss him.

Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda condemned the alleged assault in parliament, complaining that this kind of grave incident had happened repeatedly.

In the past, assaults by US marines have fuelled local anger at the presence of many thousands of foreign soldiers on Japan`s southernmost island.

Twelve years ago, the rape of a 12-year-old girl on Okinawa by three US servicemen led to street protests against the presence of the American military there.

Similarly, the most recent incident could damage the US-Japan military alliance.

Mr Fukuda said his government would do what it could to try to prevent a repeat of such incidents in the future.

Sunday`s alleged assault has also brought condemnation from Okinawa`s governor and other local politicians.

The US state department said it was taking the allegations very seriously and pledged to work closely with the Japanese.

About 50,000 US troops are stationed in Japan, most of them on Okinawa.

Last year, 46 US military personnel were arrested in Okinawa in connection with criminal cases.

That figure, though, represented a 50% drop compared to the number of arrests made on the island five years ago.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Marine may be held another 20 days in alleged rape
By Chisaki Watanabe - The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Feb 13, 2008 7:13:57 EST

NAHA, Japan — The U.S. ambassador to Japan told Okinawans on Wednesday that he took “seriously” the arrest of an American Marine on suspicion of raping a 14-year-old girl.

Accompanied by Air Force Lt. Gen. Bruce Wright, commander of U.S. Forces in Japan, Ambassador Thomas Schieffer told Okinawa Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima that they had come to let the people of Okinawa know “how seriously we take this situation,” according to a U.S. Embassy statement.

“We want to assure you that we will do all we can to cooperate with you and the authorities here to ensure that justice is done in this matter,” the statement quoted him as saying.

Staff Sgt. Tyrone Luther Hadnott, a 38-year-old Marine from Camp Courtney in Okinawa, was arrested Monday over the alleged attack on the schoolgirl the night before. The case prompted comparisons with the rape of a 12-year-old girl in Okinawa in 1995 by three U.S. troops that prompted massive protests against the U.S. military.

Okinawa, home to the majority of the 50,000 U.S. troops based in Japan, is considered a linchpin in the American military presence in Asia, and U.S. officials have been eager to avoid a damaging spike in anti-U.S. military sentiment on the island. Okinawans have long complained of soldier-committed crimes.

Two Okinawa assemblies adopted resolutions Wednesday protesting the alleged rape. The town assembly in Chatan, where the incident took place, also demanded an apology and compensation for the alleged victim and her family.

Military officials have expressed their regret and pledged cooperation. Prosecutors took over the case Tuesday, a move that allows authorities to hold Hadnott for another 20 days before formally charging him.

Hadnott’s hometown has not yet been released.

Schieffer was to meet with American military officials in Okinawa before heading back to Tokyo later in the day for talks with Japanese Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura, who on Tuesday said “we’ve had enough” of U.S. base-related crime.

Japanese police said the girl met Hadnott on Sunday and accepted a ride on his motorbike after he offered to take her home. The Marine allegedly took her to his house instead. When the teenager started crying he said he would drive her home, and the girl claimed he then raped her in a car, police said.

Hadnott told investigators he forced the girl down and kissed her, but did not rape her, police said.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Rape allegations against Marine staff sergeant spark Okinawa protests
By Chiyomi Sumida and David Allen, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Thursday, February 14, 2008

CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa — Okinawa police forwarded a charge of rape against a Marine staff sergeant to the Naha District Public Prosecutor’s Office on Tuesday, while protests against the alleged crime began to grow.

Two Okinawa mayors filed formal complaints with U.S. and Japanese government officials and about 300 people protested in front of the Headquarters Gate of Camp Foster on Tuesday evening.

Meanwhile, Staff Sgt. Tyrone Luther Hadnott, 38, assigned to Camp Courtney, remained in custody in the prefectural police department’s Okinawa City station. He was arrested early Monday morning on suspicion of raping a 14-year-old Okinawan girl Sunday night in his van parked on a roadside in Chatan, near Camp Foster.

On Tuesday afternoon he was transported to the prosecutor’s office in Naha for questioning — without a defense attorney present — that can continue for another 20 days before an indictment is sought. A police spokesman said Hadnott continues to deny raping the girl, saying only that he tried to kiss her and pressed himself against her inside the van.

He reportedly told investigators that he did not know the girl was underage, the spokesman said.

The alleged crime has sparked criticism from Okinawans who harbor memories of an incident in 1995 when two Marines and a Navy corpsman abducted and raped a 12-year-old girl in the village of Kin, and it has given fuel to anti-base activists.

On Okinawa, the mayors of Okinawa City and Chatan jointly delivered formal complaints denouncing the alleged crime to Marine Corps headquarters on Camp Foster, the American consulate in Urasoe, the Naha Defense Bureau and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Okinawa Office.

“There is no excuse for a 38-year-old servicemember, a man who is in a leadership position, to commit such a crime,” Chatan Mayor Masaharu Nogumi said following a visit to Special Ambassador Tadashi Imai of the foreign ministry. “There are growing fears among Okinawa residents because of the fact that the suspect lives in the local community.”

Okinawa City Mayor Mitsuko Tomon said she had doubts about the effectiveness of measures taken by the U.S. military to prevent crimes.

“In our city, a rape incident occurred in October and then a taxi robbery in January,” she said. “Each time, we call for preventive measures and hope it’s the last one. But these things keep happening.”

In Tokyo, Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba expressed his concern about what effect the rape case might have on the planned realignment of U.S. forces in Japan.

“I feel indignant about the incident and about the fact that such crimes continue to occur,” he told reporters Tuesday during a regular news conference.

He said the crime could affect the sentiments of Okinawans concerning a proposal to build a facility to replace Marine Corps Air Station Futenma at Henoko, along the island’s northeast coast, as well as the relationship between the United States and Japan.

According to police reports, Hadnott approached three girls at about 8 p.m. Sunday near Baskin-Robbins ice cream shop in Koza Music Town on Gate 2 Street in Okinawa City.

“He talked to one of the girls, the victim, because he liked the baggy pants she was wearing,” a police spokesman said.

The officer said Hadnott told prosecutors Tuesday that the girl accepted Hadnott’s offer to drive her to her home, but on the way he suggested they stop by his home in Kitanakagusuku, and she accepted it.

But soon after they arrived, Hadnott made sexual advances to the girl and she became frightened and ran out of the house, the police spokesman said. Hadnott allegedly followed her in his van, caught up to her and calmed her down, offering again to drive her home.

Instead, they drove around for a while, first to the Futenma district of Ginowan and then to Sunabe Sea Wall, before Hadnott parked the van near Araha Park in Chatan, police said. During the ride, the girl called a male friend and asked for help.

When her phone went dead, the friend called her family and police, who found the girl squatting on the curb near a noodle shop at 10:50 p.m., the spokesman said. She told the officers she had been raped.

Police found Hadnott sitting in his van parked outside his home near Awase Golf Course. He was arrested at 2:13 a.m. Monday.

Police said they are awaiting results of DNA tests and are searching for any evidence inside Hadnott’s vehicle, which was impounded along with his motorcycle on Monday.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Corps orders standdown after alleged rape
By Joseph Coleman - The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Feb 14, 2008 10:15:37 EST

TOKYO — The U.S. military in Japan has ordered a review of its guidelines against sexual assault and could impose new curfews or other restrictions following a Marine’s arrest on suspicion of rape, the top commander said Thursday.

The announcement came after U.S. Ambassador Thomas Schieffer traveled to the southern island of Okinawa on Wednesday in an effort to quell rising anger over the case, in which a Marine is accused of raping a 14-year-old girl.

Air Force Lt. Gen. Bruce Wright, commander of U.S. forces in Japan, said he ordered a task force representing all of the military services to examine sexual assault education programs and come up with recommendations for improvements.

The review will take two to four weeks, he told a news conference.

The Corps also ordered a standdown for all Marines in Japan and began two days of training “on ethics and leadership” to tighten discipline.

The action addresses how to maintain good relations with Japan, monitor one another and take action to prevent any form of misconduct, and teaches the importance of obeying Japanese and American laws, Marine spokesman 1st Lt. Judd Wilson said in an e-mail.

Lt. Gen. Richard Zilmer, commanding general of III Marine Expeditionary Force, called the alleged rape “shocking and saddening to me” in a statement posted on III MEF’s Web site.

“We are cooperating fully with Okinawan authorities in their investigation of this incident and will continue to cooperate as this matter proceeds through the Japanese criminal justice system,” he said.

Japanese police arrested Staff Sgt. Tyrone Luther Hadnott from Camp Courtney on Okinawa on Monday over the alleged attack the night before. Hadnott has not been charged, and his hometown has not been released.

Japanese police said the girl met Hadnott on Sunday and accepted a ride on his motorbike after he offered to take her home. The Marine allegedly took her to his house instead. When the teenager started crying, he said he would drive her home, and the girl claimed he then raped her in a car, police said.

Hadnott told investigators he forced the girl down and kissed her but did not rape her, police said.

“This kind of act by one of our military members, a Marine staff sergeant, is absolutely unacceptable and in no way matches the commitment of our entire U.S. Forces Japan community to the highest possible moral and professional standards,” Wright said.

The case has prompted comparisons with the gang-rape of a 12-year-old girl on Okinawa in 1995 by three U.S. troops, which triggered massive protests against the American military presence.

On Thursday, the Okinawa state assembly adopted a resolution protesting the suspected rape and calling for an apology and compensation for the alleged victim and her family.

“This is an extremely heinous crime that caused great shock and fear among the people of Okinawa,” said assemblyman Seiichi Oyakawa. “We can never forgive this.”

Wright said the military was looking at a variety of measures to prevent further assaults, including curfews and limiting off-base activities. Enlisted Marines on Okinawa already face a midnight curfew, but that could be tightened or broadened to other services.

“We’re looking at all applications — everything’s on the table,” he said.

Okinawa is home to a majority of the 50,000 U.S. troops based in Japan and residents have long complained about crimes committed by American forces. The two countries have agreed to realign U.S. forces stationed in Japan.

The resolution adopted on Okinawa also called on the U.S. to consolidate its Okinawa bases and reduce the number of its troops, including Marines, on the island.

Japan is considering setting up security cameras near U.S. bases on Okinawa, according to Deputy Cabinet Secretary Osamu Saka****a. He added, however, that such a plan requires the approval of local communities and consideration of privacy issues.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

US holds hearing for Marines in Japan rape case: official

Fri Feb 15, 3:02 AM ET

The US military said Friday it opened a hearing for four US Marines accused of gang-raping a Japanese woman, even though Japanese prosecutors decided not to press charges.

The case in the western city of Hiroshima is going ahead amid public outrage over a separate alleged rape by another Marine on the southern island of Okinawa, the biggest hub for US troops in Japan.

The US Marines said they held a so-called Article 32 hearing -- the military equivalent of a preliminary court hearing -- on Thursday and Friday of the four Marines at their base in Iwakuni, near Hiroshima.

A 20-year-old woman alleged that the four military men in October raped her in a car and then stole her money.

"The US government has a responsibility to prove the facts about allegations," said Master Gunnery Sergeant John Cordero, a spokesman for the Iwakuni base.

He stressed that the preliminary hearing did not necessarily mean the military would take action against the men as they are presumed to be innocent under the law until it is proven otherwise.

"Any allegations about Marines will be investigated by the Marine Corps, and we consider any allegations seriously," Cordero said.

Japanese prosecutors in November dropped the case against the Marines, citing inconsistencies in the woman's allegations.

Police have declined further details. But Kyodo News said the woman changed her story and told police that she consented to have sex with one of the four men.

The United States stations troops in Japan under a security alliance with its key Asian ally, which has been officially pacifist since its defeat in World War II.

There has been frequent friction between troops and residents. The city of Iwakuni on Sunday held a mayoral election in which a candidate vowing to stop expansion of the air base narrowly lost.

Relations are particularly tense in Okinawa, where about half the US forces are stationed.

Okinawan leaders voiced outrage and the US ambassador made a personal apology after a US Marine was arrested Monday for allegedly raping a 14-year-old girl. He remains in Japanese police custody pending charges.

Thousands took to the streets after three US servicemen in Okinawa raped a 12-year-old Japanese girl in 1995.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Hearing ends for 4 Marines in gang rape case
By Chisaki Watanabe - The Associated Press
Posted : Friday Feb 15, 2008 12:02:35 EST

HIROSHIMA, Japan — U.S. military authorities held preliminary hearings Friday to determine whether four Marines who had been charged with raping a Japanese woman last year should be court-martialed.

The four U.S. Marines, accused of an attack on a 19-year-old woman in October, were charged by the military in December, said Master Gunnery Sgt. John Cordero of Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni.

The hearings began Thursday to decide whether the men would face court-martial, he said. Two of the Marines were also accused of stealing money from the woman.

The hearings, originally set to last three days through Saturday, ended after the second day, Kyodo News Agency said without giving details. Phone calls to military officials at Iwakuni were not answered late Friday.

The case at Iwakuni, which was initiated quietly after Japanese authorities dropped charges against the four, was taking place as anger rose on the southern island of Okinawa over the arrest this week of another Marine on suspicion of raping a 14-year-old girl.

The U.S. ambassador and head of U.S. military forces in Japan have gone to Okinawa to express sorrow and try to quell tensions. The U.S. military announced Thursday a review of sexual assault education programs to prevent further crimes.

In the Iwakuni case, media reports say the woman met the Marines at a restaurant in Hiroshima, and the men drove her to a nearby parking lot where they allegedly raped and robbed her. The names and hometowns of the four Marines have not been released.

Authorities were not releasing details, but Kyodo reported that the woman said she had agreed to have sex with one of the men, but then the three others joined the pair and all four raped her.

Only one of the four men testified and denied the allegations. The other three did not speak in court, Kyodo said. The prosecution argued for all four to be court-martialed, while the defense argued that the woman had made false accusations.

Japanese authorities investigated the incident, but local prosecutors dropped the case in November. Officials refused to provide reasons for not pursuing prosecution.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Marines’ attorneys allege woman fabricated gang-rape story
By Travis J. Tritten, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Sunday, February 17, 2008



MARINE CORPS AIR STATION IWAKUNI, Japan — A Japanese woman who says she was gang-raped by four Marines in October had strong motives to invent the charges, defense attorneys for the servicemembers said Friday during closing remarks at a preliminary hearing.

The woman, who was a 19-year-old minor at the time, alleges two gunnery sergeants, a sergeant and a lance corporal kidnapped her outside a Hiroshima dance club and took turns raping her in the back seat of a minivan.

The defense said the woman consented to the group sex but was angry with the men for stealing her money and forcing her out of the van in a parking lot.

She later made up the gang-rape story to Japanese police to keep the truth from her mother, said Christopher Carlson, attorney for defendant Gunnery Sgt. Carl Anderson.

“It’s a lot better than telling mom she had serial relations with servicemembers,” Carlson said. “I think it’s quite clear we have an individual who does not want it found out she was doing something wrong.”

The two-day Article 32 hearing was held to determine if the four Marines will face charges in the case. The investigating officer, Lt. Col. Darren Jump, said he will weigh the evidence in the case and return a recommendation by Feb. 29.

That recommendation will be sent to the convening authority, Col. Brent Goddard, the commanding officer of Combat Logistics Regiment 35, 3rd Marine Logistics Group, which includes the four Marines’ unit.

Goddard will decide whether to pursue the charges and can choose to dismiss the case or send it to courts-martial. There is no time limit on Goddard’s deliberation.

Anderson, Gunnery Sgt. Jarvis D. Raynor, Sgt. Lanaeus J. Braswell and Lance Cpl. Larry A. Dean are charged with various crimes including rape, conspiracy and kidnapping and have been confined on base since the allegations surfaced in October.

Anderson, the only defendant to make a public statement, said he never raped the woman.

The father of three said he has spent 21 years in the Marine Corps and was ready to retire.

“I was scheduled to go on terminal leave three days after the incident,” he said.

The other three defendants did not testify at the hearing.

The men went to Club Chinatown in Hiroshima on Oct. 14 for a night out. Braswell met the woman and the two went to the parking lot to have sex in the minivan, according to case evidence.

The three other men entered the vehicle while the couple was having sex and the group drove to a nearby parking lot, the woman testified. She said the men took turns raping her and then forced her out of the vehicle after stealing her money.

Defense attorneys contended she lied about her age and then lied about the gang-rape because she was afraid police would contact her mother.

During questioning over several weeks, she testified, she repeatedly lied to police about consensual sex with Braswell because she was embarrassed and frightened.

The woman first told police she was pulled into the vehicle, kidnapped and gang-raped.

Stars and Stripes does not identify victims or alleged victims of sexual assault.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Japan protests new incidents with US Marines

Mon Feb 18, 3:12 AM ET

Japan voiced anger Monday after arrests of two more US Marines for misconduct on the southern island of Okinawa and said it would complain to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice when she visits next week.

"I only have one thing to express and that is our true anger," said Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura, the top government spokesman. "We demand serious self-reflection."

Corporal Shawn Cody Jake, 21, was found at around 4:25 am Monday on a sofa inside the house of a local family in Nago city who did not know the man, according to the Okinawa police.

"He was arrested at the scene for trespassing," a police spokesman said.

Another US Marine, Tony Alexander Garcia, was also arrested on Sunday for allegedly driving drunk, another police spokesman said.

Garcia, whose rank was not immediately available, was being questioned by Okinawa police, the spokesman said.

The two arrests came only a week after another Marine was arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl also on Okinawa, which hosts half of the more than 40,000 US troops in Japan.

Top US officials last week flew to Okinawa to offer personal apologies for the alleged rape and promised to tighten discipline among US troops.

Machimura urged Washington to do more and said the government would bring up the issue when Secretary of State Rice visits next week.

"They are not showing a sense of discipline," Machimura said.

"We are expecting a visit by Secretary of State Rice next week. We must urge the US government to strongly regret" the conduct of its soldiers, he said.

The United States stations troops in Japan under a security treaty with its key Asian ally, which has been officially pacifist since World War II.

Machimura feared the latest incidents may affect ongoing moves to shift US troops within Japan, although he doubted they would halt the plan entirely.

"We don't believe (the plan) will be affected. But we must review the situation to see if there are any effects," he said.

Last week's case rekindled memories of the gang-rape in 1995 of a 12-year-old girl by three US servicemen, which set off major protests on the island and set in motion a process to reduce the number of US troops there.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Okinawans shaking heads at new incidents involving U.S. Marines

Date Posted: 2008-02-19
Only hours after receiving mandatory behavior and discipline training, Marines have been arrested in two separate incidents.
A 21-year-old Marine corporal was taken into custody about 4:20 a.m. in Nago City and charged with breaking and entering a woman’s home. Police say Sean Jake, a Marine stationed at Camp Schwab, was drunk as he broke into a residence in the Henoko area early this morning. The woman, who says she’d never met Jake before, found him asleep on the couch in her living room.
She called police, and then a Henoko area official. Police say they’re not sure how the Marine got into the house, because there were no windows broken. Jake, police say, caused no damage in the house. The Marine has told police “Did I sleep on the sofa? I don’t remember anything at all.”
Yasumasa Oshiro, who represents Nago City’s Henoko area, was furious as he demanded an explanation on how the incident could have happened. “Wasn’t it just a couple days ago the military brass swore they would thoroughly educate the troops? It is really disgusting.” Oshiro asks “What are the Marines doing?” and wonders if “we really should say they all go away from Okinawa. It’s because of the American bases here, and that’s why these kinds of things are happening so often.”
The government’s Chief Cabinet Secretary in Tokyo wasted no time in lambasting the breaking and entering incident. Nobutaka Machimura said American “discipline appears to be lax,” and argued “It’s an incident that occurred amid cries for more strict enforcement of discipline. We can only conclude the Americans are slack.” The Secretary told a morning news conference the Americans aren’t doing what they promised in the wake of the February 10th alleged rape of a 14-year-old girl in Okinawa City, and complains “We must strongly call on the U.S. to reflect on this. It is deplorable, and I am angered by it,” Machimura added.
Tempers were already strained Sunday as word reached the public a U.S. Marine had been arrested for drunk driving. Okinawa City Police apprehended a 22-year-old Marine stationed at Camp Foster after a police patrol watched a car weaving along a Chuo area street about 7:15 a.m. Corporal Tony Alexander Garcia was arrested on the scene.
The Nago City mayor was vocal this morning in asking “Can’t they (the Americans) learn anything?” Yoshikazu Shimabukuro says “all Okinawan people are very sensitive about the American military because of last week’s incident.” He says the rash of incidents is giving people a very different impression of Americans, and notes most girls and women who used to consider Americans as “just foreigners” are now viewing “Americans as scary people.”
A local attorney is voicing concerns the current military discipline system is not working. Tsutomu Arakaki says “not putting restrictions on them, and not placing places off limits is simply not working at all.” He thinks the Marine Corps has worked itself into a dangerous situation, although noting not all Marines are bad individuals.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

'They are not showing a sense of discipline'


Tokyo - Japan voiced anger on Monday after arrests of two more US Marines for misconduct on the southern island of Okinawa and said it would complain to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice when she visits next week.

"I only have one thing to express and that is our true anger," said Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura, the top government spokesperson. "We demand serious self-reflection."

Corporal Shawn Cody Jake, 21, was found at around 4.25am (local time) on Monday on a sofa inside the house of a local family in Nago city who did not know the man, according to the Okinawa police.

"He was arrested at the scene for trespassing," a police spokesperson said.

Another US Marine, Tony Alexander Garcia, was also arrested on Sunday for allegedly driving drunk, another police spokesperson said.

Garcia, whose rank was not immediately available, was being questioned by Okinawa police, the spokesperson said.

The two arrests came only a week after another Marine was arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl also in Okinawa, which hosts half of the more than 40 000 US troops in Japan.

Top US officials last week flew to Okinawa to offer personal apologies for the alleged rape and promised to tighten discipline among US troops.

Machimura urged Washington to do more and said the government would bring up the issue when secretary of state Rice visits next week.
'I only have one thing to express and that is our true anger'

"They are not showing a sense of discipline," Machimura said.

"We are expecting a visit by Secretary of State Rice next week. We must urge the US government to strongly regret" the conduct of its soldiers, he said.

The United States stations troops in Japan under a security treaty with its key Asian ally, which has been officially pacifist since World War Two.

Machimura feared the latest incidents may affect ongoing moves to shift US troops within Japan, although he doubted they would halt the plan entirely.

"We don't believe (the plan) will be affected. But we must review the situation to see if there are any effects," he said.

Last week's case rekindled memories of the gang-rape in 1995 of a 12-year-old girl by three US servicemen, which set off major protests on the island and set in motion a process to reduce the number of US troops there. - Sapa-AFP



the Web by IOL on 2008-02-18 10:16:30

Ellie