Military

DATE=07/21/01

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

NUMBER=2-278493

TITLE=OKINAWA/ARRESTS (L-Only)

BYLINE=AMY BICKERS

DATELINE=TOKYO

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: Japanese police have arrested an American serviceman on southern Okinawa Island. As V-O-A's Amy Bickers reports, the arrest comes just two days after U-S airman Timothy Woodland was formally charged with raping a local woman.

TEXT: Okinawan police arrested the U-S serviceman Saturday. Fernando Rivera-Blanes was arrested for allegedly destroying and setting fire to a car belonging to a Japanese citizen. He is suspected of setting the car ablaze in a parking lot before dawn.

The latest incident comes two days before U-S Secretary of State Colin Powell is scheduled to visit (Monday) on the first leg of an Asian tour.

A local government spokesman expressed indignation over the incident. He told Japanese broadcaster N-H-K that the United States and Japan should meet as soon as possible to discuss crimes committed by U-S military

personnel in Japan.

Such crimes are a continuing source of tensions on Okinawa, home to about half of the American military personnel stationed in Japan.

On Thursday, U-S Air Force Sergeant Timothy Woodland was charged with raping a Japanese woman in a parking lot near Kadena Air Base, where he is stationed. He denies the charge, saying the woman had consented to sex.

Japanese media reports say that Mr. Woodland will apply to a local court for permission to retain an American lawyer for his trial. Japanese courts have a conviction rate of more than 90-percent, and Mr. Woodland

could face time in a Japanese prison. (SIGNED)

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