Marine in Japan charged with rape
U.S. forces in Japan charged a Marine with raping a 14-year-old girl in Okinawa, and Japanese prosecutors charged a U.S. sailor in the stabbing death of a taxi driver -- two in a series of alleged crimes that have stirred anger against the American military presence in Japan.
The Marines said today that military charges against Staff Sgt. Tyrone L. Hadnott include rape of a child younger than 16, abusive sexual conduct, making a false official statement, adultery and “kidnapping through inveigling,” or trickery.
Japanese police initially detained Hadnott in the alleged Feb. 10 attack but released him after the girl dropped charges. U.S. authorities then investigated the case under the military justice code.
Japanese police earlier said Hadnott had admitted that he forced the girl down and kissed her but that he denied raping her.
No date was set for the court-martial. The charges were made Monday but not immediately announced.
On Thursday, Olatunbosun Ugbogu, a 22-year-old Nigerian citizen serving in the U.S. Navy, was charged with stabbing a cabdriver to death March 19 near a U.S. naval base in Yokosuka.
The Yokohama District Court said the sailor could face a maximum sentence of death by hanging if convicted.
Japan is host to about 50,000 U.S. troops under a security treaty. About half of them are based on the tiny island of Okinawa.
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