US soldier found guilty in Okinawa

US soldier found guilty in Okinawa

TOKYO: A US serviceman was found guilty but not given jail time Thursday for molesting a 10-year-old girl in a case that brought fresh resentment in the southern Japanese island chain of Okinawa.

Armando Valdez, a 28-year-old Air Force staff sergeant stationed at Kadena, the biggest US base in Asia, to 18 months in prison, suspended for four years, said a spokesman for the Naha District Court.

The court ruled that Valdez, who was arrested in July, forced the victim to roll up her shirt and molested her as he took pictures with his mobile phone.

The crime was "evil natured and intended to satisfy his distorted sexual desire," chief judge Nobuyuki Yokota said, as quoted by the Mainichi Shimbun’s website.

"The sex crime committed by a US military man against a little girl caused great fear to local residents," he said.

There was no immediate comment on why the sentence was suspended. Kadena Base said in a brief statement that the US authorities "respect their (Japanese) judicial decisions."

"Since we do not do double-jeopardy, any further action would be administrative only," it said.

The crime by a serviceman of the biggest US base in Asia triggered fresh resentment among Okinawans, who held major anti-US rallies in 1995 after a 12-year-old girl was raped by three US Marines.

The United States stations more than 38,000 troops in officially pacifist Japan under a security alliance and stresses it is sensitive to local concerns. Okinawa, which US forces captured in 1945 and held until 1972, accounts for less than one percent of Japan’s land mass but remains the base for more than half of the US troops, with other communities reluctant to host the military.
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