A Yokota Air Base, Japan, noncommissioned officer was convicted Friday of raping a senior airman last year in the city of Tachikawa, near Yokota, base officials said.
He also was convicted on lesser crimes in connection with a 2000 incident in Italy.
After a three-day general court-martial, Staff Sgt. Linwood W. Burton Jr., with the 374th Civil Engineer Squadron, was sentenced Saturday to a dishonorable discharge, eight years of confinement, forfeiture of all pay and allowances and reduction in rank to E-1, officials reported.
An eight-member panel convened on Wednesday heard four charges against Burton.
He was accused of raping the senior airman on Feb. 27, 2004, in Tachikawa. Burton also was accused by a civilian of attempted rape, forcible sodomy and indecent assault in connection with an incident near Venice, Italy, on Sept. 28, 2000.
The panel did not find Burton guilty for the charges from Italy involving the civilian. He instead was found guilty of lesser offenses stemming from the incident, including consensual sodomy (oral sex) and indecent acts, base officials said.
No other information about the case was available Saturday.
