TOKYO — U.S. forces in Japan have charged a Marine with raping a 14-year-old girl in Okinawa, the Marines said today. The case has spurred protests against the American presence on the island.
U.S. military charges against Staff Sgt. Tyrone L. Hadnott include rape of a child under 16, abusive sexual conduct, making a false official statement, adultery and “kidnapping through inveigling,” or trickery.
No date was set for the court-martial. The charges were made Monday, but the military did not announce them until today.
Hadnott’s Feb. 11 arrest — as well as other damaging criminal accusations against American troops — inflamed popular anger at the U.S. military presence. Japan hosts some 50,000 American troops under a security treaty.
The announcement of the charging of Hadnott followed the indictment of a U.S. sailor Thursday in the stabbing death of a taxi driver last month.
Olatunbosun Ugbogu, a 22-year-old Nigerian citizen serving in the U.S. Navy, was charged with killing the driver near a U.S. naval base in Yokosuka on March 19.
