YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan — After 20 days in Japanese police custody, a U.S. sailor was released and fined for inappropriately touching a Japanese schoolgirl near Yokosuka Chuo train station.
Petty Officer 2nd Class Danny Joseph Valerie was freed July 5 after being found in violation of Yokosuka’s nuisance prevention ordinance (Prohibition of Indecent Acts).
The Yokosuka Summary Court ordered Valerie to pay a 300,000-yen fine — about $2,640 — on the same day, according to a spokesman from the Yokosuka Branch of the Yokohama District Public Prosecutor’s Office.
Valerie, 47, is an engineman at the base’s Fleet and Industrial Supply Center. He was accused of approaching a 15-year-old girl on June 14 around 8 p.m., pressing himself against her, touching and kissing her while she was sitting on a bench near Yokosuka Chuo train station with two other female high school students, according to a spokesman from the Kanagawa Prefectural Police in Yokosuka. Valerie was intoxicated at the time, the spokesman said.
The high school student used her cell phone to call the police, who arrived and arrested Valerie on the spot, the spokesman said.
Although the U.S. Navy maintains concurrent jurisdiction over the incident with the Japanese, the Navy does not plan on levying additional punishments on Valerie, said a Commander, Naval Forces Japan spokesman.
“It is Navy policy not to impose punishment in addition to U.S. civil or foreign judicial punishment,” spokesman Jon Nylander said.