Marines Given Jail For Japan Sex Assaults

Two U.S. Marines were sentenced to prison time Friday on charges related to sexual assaults on two different young women in Japan, but both men have avoided rape convictions.

Kyodo News reported that a U.S. court-martial had sentenced Staff Sgt. Tyrone L. Hadnott to four years after convicting him of abusive sexual conduct with a Japanese teenager in Okinawa, in southern Japan.

Four other charges, including rape of a child under 16, making a false official statement, adultery and "kidnapping through inveigling," or trickery, were dropped in a plea bargain, according to Kyodo.

Another U.S. Marine accused in the alleged gang rape of a Japanese woman last year was sentenced to two years in prison for "wrongful sexual contact and indecent acts" but cleared of rape, the U.S. military said.

Lance Cpl. Larry A. Dean, 20, was one of four Marines facing court-martial for the alleged rape of a 19-year-old woman in the southern city of Hiroshima in October.

Dean was also found guilty Thursday of "fraternization and violating military orders about liberty and alcohol" but cleared of rape and kidnapping charges, according to a statement by the Marine Corps Air Station in Iwakuni in southern Japan.

Dean was also dishonorably discharged. His sentence also included the forfeiture of all pay and allowances, and a reduction in rank to private.

The other Marines charged are Gunnery Sgt. Carl M. Anderson, 39, Gunnery Sgt. Jarvis D. Raynor, 34, and Sgt. Lanaeus J. Braswell, 25. Anderson and Raynor will be court-martialed later this month and Braswell in June, said Master Gunnery Sgt. John Cordero on Friday.

Japanese authorities investigated the incident, but local prosecutors dropped the case in November.

About 50,000 U.S. troops are based in Japan under a security pact between the two countries. Many Japanese complain of crime, pollution and noise associated with the bases.

Japanese anger over the U.S. military presence has grown in recent months following the Hadnott case and the killing of a taxi driver near a U.S. naval base in Yokosuka, south of Tokyo.