"That's the price you pay for our protection." - A high-ranking US official referring to the rape of a 12-year-old Okinawan girl by three American soldiers.
A Naha District Court prosecutor on Monday recommended a four-year prison sentence for a former Marine charged with illegal entry to a military installation, car theft and other crimes.
Christopher Chad Hoskins, 28, admitted in earlier hearings that he stole items valued at $970 from a car parked in the Plaza Housing Area. He admitted he also stole another Marine’s car and items inside, valued at total of $3,350, according to the indictment.
In both cases he gained access to the base by climbing over barbed-wire fences, prosecutor Mutsuro Ozono said.
Hoskins was arrested by military police on Aug. 28 when he was spotted peeking inside cars parked in a housing area. He was on probation at the time for a 2007 conviction for illegally entering a military installation.
Hoskins also faces a charge of breaking into the Jehovah’s Witness church in Kitanakagusuku in November 2006 and stealing 16 items, including TV sets, valued at $5,760. The charges were filed after Hoskins’ DNA matched that of blood left on a glass cabinet in the church.
"In less than eight months after he was convicted of theft and while on probation, he repeated the same crime," the prosecutor said in his argument for a prison sentence.
Ozono asked for an 18-month prison term for illegal entry to a military installation and stealing cars and property, and 30 months in jail for the theft at the church.
Meanwhile, Hoskins’ attorney, Tomoshige Hata, argued that his client was reluctant to talk to police during interrogation because he was treated violently.
Hoskins told the court Monday that a police investigator pushed a desk against him with such force that it injured his knees.
"From a distrust of the police investigation, Hoskins remained silent throughout the investigation, but he told everything once the public trial started," Hata said.
In asking for leniency, Hata said Hoskins promised to overcome his alcohol addiction, the root of his criminal behavior.
Sentencing is scheduled for March 5.
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