By JOSEPH COLEMAN Associated Press Writer
Fri Apr 25, 6:16 AM ET
TOKYO - An American Marine will be court-martialed on charges of raping a 14-year-old girl in Okinawa, the military said Friday, in a case that has stirred anger against U.S. bases in Japan and triggered tight restrictions on troop movements.
Staff Sgt. Tyrone L. Hadnott faces charges of rape of a child under 16, abusive sexual conduct, making a false official statement, adultery and "kidnapping through inveigling," or trickery, the Marines said in a statement.
No date was set for the court-martial. The charges were made Monday, but the military did not announce them until Friday.
The announcement followed an indictment Thursday in another high-profile case involving a U.S. serviceman. Olatunbosun Ugbogu, a 22-year-old Nigerian in the Navy, was charged with fatally stabbing a taxi driver south of Tokyo in March.
Japanese police initially detained Hadnott in the alleged Feb. 10 rape, 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 to investigators he forced the girl down and kissed her, but denied raping her.
Hadnott's Feb. 11 arrest and a series of other damaging criminal accusations against American troops have inflamed long-simmering anger at the U.S. military presence, which is blamed for crime, pollution and crowding.
Japan hosts some 50,000 American troops under a security treaty. About half of them are based on the tiny, congested island of Okinawa.
The rape accusation prompted the U.S. military to severely restrict troop movements on Okinawa and elsewhere, and conduct a review of its anti-sexual assault education programs and guidelines.
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