Airman accused of kidnapping, sexual assault of Eastern Miner in Okinawa

A US airman on Okinawa has been accused of kidnapping and sexually assaulting an eastern minor, replicating a notorious robbery by soldiers there in the nineties and potentially inflaming long-running disputes on the island. Is.

Senior Airman Brennan Washington, who was once stationed at Kadena Breeze Bottom, was charged in March with alleged crimes by the federal government after he shot a girl under the age of 16 from a local landscape on Christmas Eve to his home. Was accused of taking. , Keeping pace with Eastern media retailers. Washington’s rank and repair document once shown through Breeze Power.

Breeze Bottom said it would no longer be able to provide alternative data on the matter due to the ongoing investigation. Service member crime has long been a blight of the U.S. military dating back to Okinawa, but the capture and rape of a 12-year-old eastern girl by three soldiers in 1995 was particularly alarming. That crime led to a struggle to remove the military’s footprint on the island, which is still ongoing.

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“According to the indictment… Brennan Washington, 25, invited the girl to his car to talk at a park in Yomitan on Dec. 24 and drove her to his residence before performing lewd acts on her, such as touching her lower half “The girl’s body was aware that she was under 16,” The Mainichi Shimbun, one of Japan’s largest newspapers, reported on Tuesday.

1st Lt. Alvin Nelson III, spokesman for the 18th Wing at Kadena, told Army.com in an email comment that he was well aware of the alleged crimes against Kadena Airmen, but offered negative additional information.

“The 18th Wing is aware of an allegation of sexual assault against a Kadena Airman involving a Japanese national,” Nelson noted. “Due to the ongoing investigation, we cannot provide further details.”

He said the 18th Wing is “committed to thoroughly investigating the allegations while ensuring due legal process under applicable laws and agreements,” and would no longer speculate on disciplinary action while the investigation continues.

During a June 25 press conference, Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary, Yoshimasa Hayashi, reported that the company member who was prosecuted on March 27, that the Okinawa Prefectural Police Region and prosecutors in the prefecture’s capital Naha were investigating the incident. were, and a formal complaint was lodged in the US through officials of the country’s Foreign Ministry.

“This is very regrettable,” Hayashi said through his translator at the conference. “U.S. military incidents and accidents will have a huge impact on local residents and will cause many people to be concerned.”

The alleged crime could reignite decades-long wounds between the U.S. military and local society in Japan, and is sure to strain diplomatic relations between the two countries.

A spokesperson for the Climate Zone informed Army.com in an email comment late Tuesday that the U.S. “takes these allegations very seriously” and that “the State Department and the Pentagon are cooperating fully with Japanese authorities and Will continue to do.” ,

In 1995, three Carrier participants rented a van and kidnapped a 12-year-old Okinawan woman, whom they raped. All three were convicted and sentenced to several years in Eastern Prison, although the incident resulted in outrage and reform of the prison structure governing prison rights of carrier participants in Japan.

The case also prompted talks on realigning and reducing the massive US military presence on the island. In the context of the year, the US and Japan signed an agreement reducing the amount of land US bases damaged on Okinawa by 21%.

“We understand and share the concerns of the local community regarding this matter,” said Nelson, the 18th Wing spokesman. “Wing leadership is deeply concerned by the seriousness of this alleged crime and has worked diligently with local authorities to fully investigate the allegations while ensuring due legal process under applicable laws and agreements.”

A carrier document for Washington supplied by Army.com identified him as a senior airman with the 18th Logistics Readiness Squadron at Kadena Breeze Bottom, who joined the carrier in March 2021.

Efforts to reach Washington and colleagues through numbers listed in the crowd data were unsuccessful as of Wednesday afternoon. This is not easy if the Airman is being represented through a legal professional.

Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder told Newshound he had no major issues and referred the comment to Breeze Power when asked about the incident via an Eastern media outlet on Tuesday.

A preliminary hearing has been scheduled for July 12 at the Naha District Court, the Mainichi Shimbun reported.

Meanwhile, this case may be the latest in a long string of prison incidents involving US carrier participants and civilians linked to the military on the island, which has been going on for several years and has caused many tensions. Country of origin.

In the summer of 2016, an American sailor was arrested for crashing into two vehicles and injuring two people while riding the wrong way on an Okinawa highway. His blood alcohol content was six times the legal limit in Japan.

Due to that incident, the army had to ban the activities of sailors in Japan for some time. Army leaders protested against soldiers’ drinking and prohibited any non-essential movement away from the base into the country.

At almost the same pace, a civilian colleague and Marine veteran in Kadena was arrested in connection with the rape and murder of a 20-year-old Eastern woman. Aadhaar was forced to protest the Self Rule Moment festival that year.

A year later, another alcohol-fueled horrific car crash in Okinawa resulted in additional lockdowns.

Amidst all the events, the island’s federal government passed several resolutions and proclamations demanding everything from the removal of all naval personnel from the island to greater freedom to prosecute carrier participants.

Army.com asked the Pentagon if it had any comment or concerns about this unreported incident rekindling tensions, but we did not receive a response at the newsletter’s pace.

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