Stars and StripesPacific edition, Friday, August 1, 2008
NAHA, Okinawa — A 34-year-old American civilian employee on Camp Foster was sentenced Wednesday to two years in a Japanese prison, suspended for three years, for smoking marijuana and inhaling a stimulant.
James R. Biggins, a GS-5 ranked civilian employee for the Installation Personnel Administrative Center, pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to the charges. Japanese police confiscated 0.28 ounces of marijuana from Biggins’ Ginowan home and arrested him on June 12. The raid followed the arrest of a suspected Japanese drug dealer.
Judge Toru Miyao said the court decided to suspend the sentence because Biggins showed remorse and it considered that Biggins has a wife and three children to support.
Whether Biggins will continue to work at Camp Foster is still to be determined, officials said.
Biggins will be subject to an administrative hearing or a review by the command to determine his future on Okinawa, spokesman 1st Lt. Judd Wilson said in an e-mail to Stars and Stripes on Wednesday.
No hearing dates were announced.
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