Lance Cpl. Helder Molina, of Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Japan, faces sentencing July 7, 2023, for car theft and drunken driving. (Pexels)

A U.S. Marine stationed at an air base in Japan faces sentencing July 7 for car theft and drunken driving, charges he admitted, according to local news reports.

On April 2, Japanese police stopped Lance Cpl. Helder Molina, 30, in a car reported stolen less than an hour earlier, a spokesman for Iwakuni Police said April 4. Molina, stationed at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, was held on suspicion of auto theft and drunken driving.

Molina pleaded guilty to both charges Tuesday in Yamaguchi District Court, the Chugoku newspaper reported that day.

A prosecutor told the court that Molina drank about 10 bottles of beer at bars on and off the base between 8 p.m. April 1 and 5 a.m. the next day, the newspaper reported.

The Marine got into a parked car, its engine running, and drove off although his co-workers and the car’s owner tried to stop him, the report said.

The prosecutor in court said Molina drove “dangerously” and crashed into another car and a wall, the Mainichi newspaper reported Wednesday.

At the hearing, Molina told the court he was drunk that night and doesn’t clearly remember what happened, the Yamaguchi Broadcasting Co. reported Tuesday.

The Marine said he was treated for alcoholism for about a month last year, the Chugoku report said.

The prosecutor called the incident a “selfish crime” and recommended a 1 ½-year sentence with hard labor, the newspaper reported.

Molina’s defense attorney said his client regrets the incident and intends to pay for the damage he caused. He asked the court to suspend Molina’s eventual sentence.

Another Iwakuni Marine, Lance Cpl. Dominic Youngren, received a suspended sentence earlier this month for stealing a car from a local dealer, driving under the influence of alcohol and crashing into another vehicle at a stop light, injuring two people.