Rape charges against soldier dropped

[unhappycamper]

Rape charges against soldier dropped
By Natasha Lee and Chiyomi Sumida, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Sunday, May 18, 2008

NAHA, Okinawa — Charges were dropped late Thursday against a soldier accused of raping a 21-year-old Philippine woman in February.

The Naha District Public Prosecutor’s Office deputy chief Takafumi Sato said Friday his office did not have sufficient evidence to indict Sgt. Ronald Edward Hopstock Jr., 25, of the 1st Battalion, 1st Air Defense Artillery Regiment.

"Three points at issue were the place where the alleged act took place, the relation of the two individuals and the circumstances before and after the alleged event," Sato said.

The Army will conduct its own investigation, said Maj. James Crawford, a U.S. Army spokesman at Camp Zama, Japan.

The woman accused Hopstock of raping her at an Okinawa City hotel Feb. 18 after the pair met a club where she was a dancer.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=54879



uhc comment: The woman spent a week in the hospital after Hopstock did his thing.