Rape charges against Kadena soldier advance

[unhappycamper]

Source: Stars and Stripes

Rape charges against Kadena soldier advance
By David Allen, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Wednesday, July 30, 2008

CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa — The Army has preferred rape and other charges against an Okinawa-based soldier accused of assaulting a woman on Feb. 18.

Sgt. Ronald Hopstock Jr., 25, assigned to the 1st Battalion, 1st Air Defense Artillery Regiment on Kadena Air Base, remains restricted to the base while the charges against him go forward, U.S. Army Japan spokesman Amanda S. Kraus said Monday.

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"The charges are focused around the accusation of rape and additional misconduct that came to light during the investigation," Kraus said. "Rape is one of them."

The 22-year-old alleged victim said she was raped on her third night in Japan on an entertainer’s visa by Hopstock, who told Okinawa police that he paid a "bar fine" to take the Filipina woman from the pub where she was working with the understanding sex was involved.

Read more: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=56424