U.S. Navy Master Chief Petty Officer Charlie Sison Julio received a 10-month prison sentence, suspended for three years, for negligent driving resulting in injury from the Yokohama District Court's branch in Yokosuka, Japan, on Jan. 13, 2026. (Akifumi Ishikawa/Stars and Stripes)
YOKOSUKA, Japan — A U.S. Navy sailor received a suspended sentence Tuesday following a traffic incident that injured an elderly Japanese man last year near the home of the U.S. 7th Fleet.
Master Chief Petty Officer Charlie Sison Julio, 45, assigned to Naval Education Training Command at Yokosuka Naval Base, was sentenced by the Yokohama District Court’s Yokosuka branch to 10 months in prison without hard labor.
However, Judge Yasushi Katada suspended the sentence for three years, meaning Julio won’t serve time unless he commits another offense during that period.
Julio on Dec. 3 pleaded no contest to negligent driving resulting in injury for a Feb. 11 collision with an 87-year-old man in a crosswalk that day around 11:10 a.m.
Morikazu Hosoe, now 88, was hospitalized for 106 days for a fracture in his left leg due to the accident, according to the court’s summary of the incident.
“It goes without saying that the injuries inflicted by the defendant on the victim were serious. It is also unacceptable that the elderly victim has been hindered in his daily life and has been left feeling anxious about his future,” Katada said at the sentencing.
Katada acknowledged that factors including a wall that blocked Julio’s view and poor visibility due to direct sunlight contributed to the incident, but said the sailor should have driven more carefully under those conditions.
The judge said he also considered factors in Julio’s favor, including his decision not to dispute the charge, his apologies to the victim and his adequate insurance coverage.
“Despite this, the defendant failed to notice the victim and collided with him,” he said. “The defendant’s negligence is significant.”
After the sentencing, Hosoe told reporters that U.S. service members accused of crimes are treated better than Japanese citizens.
“Through this trial, I came to believe that the (penalty of) crimes committed by U.S. military personnel were extremely light,” he said. “I believe that such a light punishment would not have been given to a Japanese person.”
Another Yokosuka sailor, Petty Officer 2nd Class Jaden Edwin Llanos, received a similar sentence — 1½ years in prison without hard labor but suspended for four years — on May 27 after he was convicted in the same court of negligent driving resulting in death in a September 2024 collision that killed a Japanese motorcyclist.
Naval Forces Japan spokesman Cmdr. Paul Macapagal acknowledged the sentence but said he could not comment further due to the ongoing legal proceedings.
