Japanese prosecutors on June 11, 2026, declined to pursue a sexual assault charge against a soldier assigned to the U.S. Army’s 38th Air Defense Artillery Brigade at Kadena Air Base, Okinawa. (Keishi Koja/Stars and Stripes)
Japanese prosecutors will not charge a U.S. soldier who was accused of sexually assaulting a woman on Okinawa in April.
The Naha Public Prosecutors Office on Thursday dismissed allegations against the soldier of sexual assault and bodily injury, a spokesman said by phone Friday. He did not address the office’s reasoning.
The soldier — an unidentified man in his 20s — is assigned to Echo Battery, 1st Battalion, 1st Air Defense Artillery Regiment, 38th Air Defense Artillery Brigade at Kadena Air Base, the Army said in May.
Okinawa Prefectural Police alleged he sexually assaulted a woman older than 18 and hurt her arm somewhere outdoors in April. Police said the two knew each other.
The soldier was also accused of hitting a roadside barrier while fleeing the scene in a car and not reporting the crash.
Police forwarded the case to prosecutors on May 22.
The soldier was fined about $125 by the Naha Summary Court on Thursday for violating the Road Traffic Act, a Naha District Court spokesman said by phone Friday.
Some Japanese government officials must speak to the press only on condition of anonymity.
Capt. Frank Spatt, spokesman for the 38th Air Defense Artillery Brigade, referred an email inquiry Friday to the Army’s Office of Special Trial Counsel, which did not immediately respond after business hours in Virginia.
A handful of sexual assault cases against U.S. service members since 2023 continue to make their way through Okinawa courts.
Prosecutors have dropped at least two other sexual assault cases alleged against service members in the past two years.
In response to the string of alleged assaults, U.S. Forces Japan imposed stricter liberty rules in October 2024, including a ban on off-base drinking between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m.
