This rape case on Okinawa has been greatly overshadowed by the Marine rape case, but ended with the same conclusion, rape charges being dropped:
Charges were dropped late Thursday against a soldier accused of raping a 21-year-old Philippine woman in February.
The Naha District Public Prosecutor’s Office deputy chief Takafumi Sato said Friday his office did not have sufficient evidence to indict Sgt. Ronald Edward Hopstock Jr., 25, of the 1st Battalion, 1st Air Defense Artillery Regiment.
“Three points at issue were the place where the alleged act took place, the relation of the two individuals and the circumstances before and after the alleged event,” Sato said.
The Army will conduct its own investigation, said Maj. James Crawford, a U.S. Army spokesman at Camp Zama, Japan. [Stars & Stripes]
What you will probably end up seeing happen is that this soldier will be charged under UCMJ in regards to violating prostitution regulations. I would expect he will receive a stiff sentence too, in order to send a message to Okinawa based servicemembers that any incident no matter how small will be dealt with harshly.
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6:16 pm on May 19th, 2008 1
The marines on okinawa who were there summed up the story like this on a local car forum…i think they are spot on….
“guy meets girl
girl turns out to be a whore
he keeps in touch
they meet up one night on his motorbike
he takes her out
they argue or whatever
she’s out late past curfew
he drops her skank ass off
cops see her
she is eating ramen, chillin
they ask what she is doing out so late
she makes up rape story
okinawa stops spinning with the rest of the earth
all americans are the devil, must lock down
cops find out she was arrested for prostitution months earlier
cops get rape test back, no sexual intercourse took place
girl says she made the whole thing up, she is a liar
police drop charges
okinawa slowly starts spinning again with planet earth
marines arrest Hadnott
court martial him to the hardest extent
give him 4 years in federal pound me in the ass prison
okinawa is back with the rest of the planet spinning again
GI’s are still the devil, keep them locked down”
IM posting this because im tired of seeing good ppl go down by the military system, just to be used to show some foreign government that “the US Military Cares”, or to just make an example….Honestly, i have never met or known this marine, but its just kinda fishy when someone screams rape, then dropos the charges, when things are going in there favor…
8:45 pm on May 19th, 2008 2
[...] been sentenced to 4 years behind bars for molesting a 14-year-old girl in Okinawa, and rape charges have been dropped against a US soldier. There has also been some minor tension between a local newspaper and Misawa [...]
9:16 pm on May 19th, 2008 3
Looks like the Philippine government may get involved in this case, according to a headline out of Manila at (sorry don’t know how to do the link thing):
http://www.gmanews.tv/story/96100/DFA-to-appeal-case-of-raped-Pinay-on-Okinawa
MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Monday said it is pushing for the Japanese government’s reinvestigation of the rape case filed by a Filipina overseas worker against a US serviceman in Japan.
(See more at link above)