2 more Okinawa Marines arrested

NAGO, Okinawa — A 21-year-old Marine assigned to Camp Schwab was taken into police custody Monday after he was found asleep on a couch in a home in Henoko, near the base, according to a spokesman for the Okinawa prefectural police in Nago.

According to the police report, a 54-year-old resident of the house found a stranger sleeping on her living room couch at about 4:25 a.m. Monday. Police were called to the home and arrested Cpl. Shawn Cody Jake at 4:50 a.m. on suspicion of trespassing.

Jake told investigators that he did not remember how he entered the home because he was drunk, the spokesman said.

Investigators suspect the Marine entered the home through an unlocked front door. There was no sign of a break-in. The case is expected to be sent to prosecutors Tuesday.

In another case over the weekend, a 22-year-old Marine assigned to Camp Foster was arrested Sunday for allegedly driving drunk after he was spotted zigzagging across several lanes of traffic near a police station.

The two arrests have drawn widespread attention in local media. They occurred a week after another Marine was arrested for the alleged rape of 14-year-old Okinawa girl, a case that has spawned protests and official calls for tighter discipline among U.S. servicemembers.

That alleged rape also prompted Lt. Gen. Richard Zilmer, commander of Marines in Japan, to order a stand-down for training on “ethics and leadership” last Thursday and Friday for all Marines on Okinawa and mainland Japan.

Vice Foreign Minister Mitoji Yabunaka called U.S. Ambassador Thomas Schieffer to complain about the weekend incidents, the Associated Press reported Monday.

The government’s top spokesman, Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura, also accused U.S. troops of continuing their alleged carousing despite the accusations of lax discipline.

“Secretary of State Rice is visiting Japan next week,” Machimura told the AP. “We must urge the U.S. government to reflect seriously on what has happened.”