Former Marine pleads to stealing car
By Chiyomi Sumida, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Friday, November 14, 2008

OKINAWA CITY, Okinawa — A 28-year-old former Marine pleaded guilty Thursday in Naha District Court in Okinawa City to illegally entering a military installation and stealing a car.

Christopher Chad Hoskins, a Louisiana native who no longer falls under the U.S.-Japan Status of Forces Agreement, was charged with stealing a car belonging to a Marine in late August from a Camp Foster military housing area, according to an indictment presented by prosecutor Mutsuro Ozono.

Military police arrested Hoskins about 3:30 a.m. Aug. 28, when he was spotted peeking inside cars parked in Camp Foster’s Plaza Housing Area, Ozono told the presiding judge.

"I accept the charges," Hoskins told the judge.

Hoskins gained access to the base by climbing over barbed-wire fences, Ozono said.

Ozono said the stolen car and 55 items inside it had an estimated value of about $3,350.

It was not Hoskins’ first run-in with Japanese law, the prosecutor said. When arrested in August, he was on probation for illegal entry to a military base, Ozono said.

The next hearing is scheduled for Jan. 15.

Ellie