Seven U.S. servicemen arrested in Japan in theft, robbery incidents

Sunday, May 21, 2000 | 10:47 a.m.

Police arrested four Marines on suspicion they broke into a clothing store on Japan's southernmost prefecture of Okinawa and stole clothing worth $3,300 and nearly $800 in U.S. and Japanese currency on Saturday, Japanese police said in a statement.

The suspects, Michael P. Winston and Hunter H. Holt, both 20, and two unidentified minors, were arrested by U.S. military police at Camp Hansen.

In a separate incident on Okinawa, 24-year-old Senior Airman James I. McIlvan of Kadena Air Base was arrested Saturday on charges he hit a supermarket employee over the head with a bottle and stole frozen food.

The employee suffered head injuries requiring a week of treatment, Kyodo News reported.

In the southern Japanese city of Fukuoka, two U.S. sailors were arrested Sunday on suspicion they stole a woman's purse from a downtown bar earlier this year.

They were identified by police as Oliver David, 21, and Nelson Patrick, 20. Both are stationed at a U.S. naval base in nearby Sasebo, Nagasaki Prefecture (state).

Japanese police had no further details on the three incidents. U.S. military officials were not immediately available for comment.

Okinawans have long complained about crime and congestion linked to the U.S. bases. About two-thirds of the 47,000 U.S. troops in Japan are in Okinawa, located 1,000 miles southwest of Tokyo.

Fukuoka is 562 miles southwest of Tokyo.