Category: crime & punishment

Here is the latest development in the horrible rape and murder case on Okinawa by a former Marine turned base contract worker:

A former U.S. base worker will admit to a charge of rape leading to the death of a Japanese woman last year, a new development in the case that rocked the tiny island prefecture and led to a surge in anti-American sentiment.

Kenneth Franklin Gadson, a former Marine who worked as a civilian at a Kadena Air Base cable and internet company, said through his attorneys that he killed Rina Shimabukuro, 20, while attempting to rape her, according to Naha District Court documents filed Friday.

“We do not dispute the charge of rape resulting in death,” the documents said, adding that Gadson admits to striking Shimabukuro on the head from behind while attempting to rape her. “As a result, the victim died … The defendant had no murderous intent, therefore we dispute the charge of murder.”

Gadson, who also goes by his Japanese wife’s surname of Shinzato, has maintained that he did not actually rape Shimabukuro.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read the rest at the link, but it appears Gadson has some serious mental issues as well.  The bottom line is whatever his intentions and mental state was, he murdered this woman and should be spending a long time in a Japanese jail because of it.

I believe anyone that makes a false rape allegation should face the same punishment as someone convicted of rape.  The woman in this case since the sentence was suspended only has to do 120 hours of community service after making an allegation that could of sent the accused to jail and ruined his life:

A woman has been found guilty of falsely accusing a man of raping her.

On Monday, Ulsan District Court sentenced the woman to eight months’ jail, suspended for two years, and 120 hours of community service.

According to the court, the woman falsely accused a man of raping her when she was drunk last year.

But the court found that the woman had consented to having sexual intercourse.

When her boyfriend found out that she cheated on him, she falsely told police the man had raped her.

“Sexual crimes often have no objective evidence other than the statement of the victims,” the court said in a ruling statement.

“Therefore a false claim can greatly hinder the justice system and needs to be severely punished.”  [Korea Times]

If President Duterte has his way the policemen who kidnapped, ransomed and killed a South Korean man in the Philippines will be executed:

On Thursday, President Rodrigo Duterte apologised to South Korea for Jee’s death, saying he wanted to hang the rogue police allegedly responsible and send their heads to Seoul, Reuters reported.

He called again for the death penalty to be reinstated so that he could hang 20 criminals a day.

Duterte also promised the toughest punishment for those behind the kidnapping and killing of the businessman inside the national police headquarters in October.

The death of the South Korean comes as the Philippine police face growing criticism from rights groups and some lawmakers, who say cover-ups and abuses of police power are rampant.  [Asian Correspondent]

You can read more at the link.

Between Hillary Clinton and now Chelsea Manning and General Cartwright it just shows that there is different strokes for different folks when it comes to mishandling classified information:

The decision — which a senior defense official told CNN was made over the objections of Secretary of Defense Ash Carter — immediately touched off a controversy in the closing days of the Obama administration.  A former intelligence official described being “shocked” to learn of Obama’s decision, adding that the “entire intelligence community is deflated by this inexplicable use of executive power.” The official said the move was “deeply hypocritical given Obama’s denunciation of WikiLeaks’ role in the hacking of the (Democratic National Committee).”  [CNN]

It appears South Korean prosecutors have been able to flip Choi Soon-sil’s niece and she is testifying against her.  With Samsung heir Lee Jae-yong saying he felt pressured him to give money to Choi’s foundation and her own niece confirming the allegation, it seems the prosecutors have a very strong case against her now:

Choi Soon-sil, the woman at the center of a South Korean presidential impeachment scandal, clashed with a niece Tuesday over allegations they coerced Samsung Group into making donations to a sports foundation under their control.

Choi, her niece Chang Si-ho and former Vice Culture and Sports Minister Kim Chong were summoned to the Seoul Central District Court to testify on allegations they colluded to extort more than 1.6 billion won (US$1.35 million) in donations from the nation’s largest business group to the Korea Winter Sports Elite Center, which was established in June 2015.

Chang early on admitted that they forced the donations from Samsung and that she embezzled funds from the center. Her admission came a day after special prosecutors investigating the scandal sought an arrest warrant for Samsung heir Lee Jae-yong on charges of bribery.

According to the prosecutors, Lee was involved in Samsung’s decision to give up to 43 billion won to various organizations linked to Choi in return for the Park Geun-hye administration’s backing of a merger between two companies belonging to the conglomerate in 2015.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link, but what I haven’t seen strong evidence of yet is how President Park Geun-hye was involved in all of this?

This is a pretty bold sexual assault to drug multiple women in the back of a taxi and then sexually assault them.  I am willing to bet this is probably not the first time this taxi cab driver has done this:

Two South Korean women said they were sexually attacked by a taxi driver while traveling to a night market in Taipei, according to local reports and the Korean foreign ministry on Sunday.

According to the reports, three Korean women hired a taxi around 6 p.m. on Thursday to visit the popular Shilin Night Market. The taxi driver, identified only by his surname Chan, was said to have given them a soft drink while heading to the market. Two of them, sitting at the back, passed out after drinking it while the one who was sitting in the passenger seat didn’t drink it.

Upon arriving at the market, the sober woman tried to wake them up, to no avail, and went to check out the market alone, thinking the two fell asleep due to tiredness. She went back to the taxi around an hour later to find out they were still sleeping. The three then returned to the hotel.

The next day, the two reported to the local police that they were sexually assaulted by the taxi driver.

On Saturday night, the police summoned Chan for investigation. They soon detained him as the suspect partially admitted to the assault in his testimony. He is reported to have said he only meant to touch them.

Meanwhile, a blood test revealed that the victims had sleeping-inducing drugs in their blood.

“The Taiwanese police detained the suspect for investigation and are likely to charge him,” an official from the foreign ministry told Yonhap News Agency, adding that the women have returned to Korea.  [Yonhap]

Obviously these two knuckleheads are not readers of the ROK Drop because if they were they would know that smuggling drugs through the US military mail is now an easy way to get yourself arrested:

Two 2nd Infantry Division soldiers have been indicted in connection with a $10 million methamphetamine smuggling case involving the U.S. military postal service, officials said Wednesday.

The shipment of nearly eight pounds of meth — in three packages with labels saying they contained candy — was discovered in late October by the customs service at the Incheon airport near Seoul.

Authorities then monitored the shipment and detained the soldiers, both 19, for questioning days later when they moved to collect it.

The men were indicted Tuesday on charges of violating the narcotics control act.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link, but these two were getting paid $3,000 and $1,000 for agreeing to have the drugs mailed to them on behalf of a Korean-American in Uijongbu who denying all the charges.

Here we go again with another crazy guy committing a mass shooting:

The man police say opened fire with a gun from his checked baggage at a Florida airport had a history of mental health issues — some of which followed his military service in Iraq — and was receiving psychological treatment at his home in Alaska, his relatives said Friday after the deadly shooting.

“Only thing I could tell you was when he came out of Iraq, he wasn’t feeling too good,” his uncle, Hernan Rivera, told The Record newspaper.

Esteban Santiago, 26, deployed in 2010 as part of the Puerto Rico National Guard, spending a year with an engineering battalion, according to Guard spokesman Maj. Paul Dahlen.  [Associated Press]

You can read more at the link, but we have heard this claim before of service in Iraq or Afghanistan being the reason someone committed a crime to find out later they were a Fobbit that never saw active combat.  I won’t believe his service in Iraq had anything to do with him committing this crime until I hear what his service record was in Iraq.  There is actually a pretty good chance he did not see active combat considering the timeframe he was in Iraq in 2010-2011 was when the pullout happened.

Additionally according to what the media has reported so far all he received from his Iraq deployment was a Iraq Campaign Medal and a Global War on Terrorism Service Medal which everyone gets.  If he was participating in active combat you would think he would have received at least an AAM or ARCOM plus a Combat Action Badge.  Based on the information currently available I would not be surprised if Santiago’s mental issues are unrelated to his military service.

Here is a real dirtbag that hopefully will be spending the rest of his life in prison:

A man who killed his pregnant girlfriend also attempted to murder his ex-lover, a court said Monday.

Daejeon High Court, sitting as an appeal court, sentenced the man, 37, whose name has been withheld, to 35 years’ jail, increasing the initial 30-year sentence because of his “inhumane sin.”

The court said the man went to Jeju Island with his girlfriend last November to search for a place to open a restaurant. The couple spent a night at a motel and next morning had an argument over financial issues. The man then tried to strangle the woman because she “disrespected him.” When he found she was not dead, he made another attempt using a hairdryer cord.

The man then put the woman’s body into their rental car and set the vehicle alight to make her death look like it was the result of an accident. [Korea Times]

You can read the rest at the link, but the guy was recently out of prison for trying to kill his ex-girlfriend.

You would think with the millions of dollars this guy has made as a major leaguer he could at least afford his own driver or at least a taxi:

Seoul police said Wednesday they’re seeking to indict Pittsburgh Pirates’ infielder Kang Jung-ho on charges of driving under the influence of alcohol.

Police have handed the case over to prosecutors after investigating Kang for leaving the scene of a DUI accident in the nation’s capital on Dec. 2.

It was Kang’s third DUI arrest, which resulted in revocation of his license.

Kang fled the scene after crashing into a guard rail on his way to his hotel in southern Seoul. In the immediate aftermath, a friend of Kang’s in the passenger seat, only identified by the surname Yoo, reported to police as the driver of the vehicle. Police analyzed the black box inside the vehicle and determined that Kang had actually been behind the wheel.

Police are also seeking indictment of Kang’s friend. They said they couldn’t clearly establish that the two had intentionally misled police or that Kang had specifically asked Yoo to offer false testimony at first.

Kang, who has two major leaguer seasons under his belt, also faced sexual assault allegations that emerged in Chicago in July.

He was named to the South Korean national team for the 2017 World Baseball Classic (WBC) scheduled for March, but will likely be dropped from the 28-man roster as early as Wednesday.  [Yonhap]

It looks like this guy may be too self destructive to remain a major league baseball player considering he only hit .255 last year with 21 home runs.