Category: crime & punishment

It seems like if you were a Japanese athlete that committing theft in South Korea at such a highly visible event such as the Asian Games would be the last thing you would want to do:

A Japanese swimmer suspected of stealing a camera at the Asian Games has been summarily indicted by local authorities and remains in South Korea awaiting a decision on his case, games organizers said Wednesday.

Naoya Tomita, who won a gold medal at the 2010 Asian Games, has been fined 1 million Korean won ($950) for stealing the camera from a photojournalist after failing to win a medal in any of his events in Incheon. He was caught on a venue surveillance video taking the camera and putting it in his bag.

Japanese team officials say Tomita admitted to taking the camera and apologized.

He has been expelled from the Japanese team, the first time that has ever happened for a swimmer, and has been kicked out of the athletes’ village. [Asian Correspondent]

Wow, there is so much wrong with this story from Bucheon:

A naked Korean police couple were discovered having sex in a public park in Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province, local media reported Friday.

The two were reportedly found naked and having sexual intercourse on a park bench at around 2 a.m. on Wednesday. The Chosun Ilbo claims that a resident reported to the police that the couple were performing an obscene act in a public place.  [Korea Observer via reader tip]

You can read more at the link, but shockingly alcohol was involved in this incident, the female officer tried to pull the “Do you know who I am” card, and then finally resulted to claiming rape.  This woman should be fired not for her sex in public escapade, but the fact she decided to claim rape to avoid responsibility for her actions.

Here is an article about the trial of a dirtbag drill sergeant that was sentenced to 20 years in prison for forcing trainees to have sex with him. What I found of interest is another example of why these cases are hard to prosecute:

A medic Sanchez deployed with to Afghanistan accused Sanchez of forcing her to have sex with him while they waited to get evacuated from a combat outpost.
She testified that she didn’t fight back and didn’t report the incident until months later, when she faced repercussions for assaulting a military policeman while drunk in Alaska where she was based.
She mentioned three other men in the military who had assaulted her, but those claims didn’t result in charges. She said the relationship with those men had been consensual at one point.
Pressed for more details about the alleged incident involving Sanchez, the woman testified that she had memory loss from being exposed to three roadside bombs.
“I don’t remember step by step” of how it happened, she told Judge Nance from the stand. (Stars and Stripes)

It is a good thing the prosecution had plenty of other witnesses because if this soldier was the star witness he probably would have gotten off.

The sentencing of these three soldiers may appear to be light but from my experience the sentences are consistent with what a Korean would have received in similar circumstances:

SEOUL, South Korea — Three 2nd Infantry Division soldiers were given suspended sentences Wednesday — essentially putting them on probation — for causing a drunken disturbance at a South Korean water park.
The division later issued a statement that said situations such as the May 31 incident at Everland theme park’s Caribbean Bay attraction undermine the volunteer work other 2ID soldiers perform in the community, from serving in soup kitchens to distributing coal and volunteering at orphanages.
“I will not allow careless acts of indiscipline to tarnish 2ID reputation and our strong relationship with our Korean neighbors,” division commander Maj. Gen. Thomas S. Vandal said in the statement.
Three Camp Casey-based soldiers — Pvt. Marcus Cobb, Pfc. Alex Wilkerson and Spc. Nicholas Myers — were sentenced to six months on convictions of obstruction of performance of official duties. (Stars and Stripes via reader tip)

You can read more at the link but the judge may have also considered the punishment the U.S. military will give to these soldiers which hopefully will include bars to reenlistment. We do not need people like this in the ranks that want to act like children instead of being the professionals they are expected to be.

I have not discussed the Andrew Tahmooressi case here on the ROK Drop because of how little information there is out there about it. The usual suspects have been using it to bash the Obama administration, but now people need to seriously consider if he intentionally drove into Mexico with those weapons:

If the judge throws the case out on technical grounds, we’ll probably never know for sure whether Tahmooressi was telling the truth when he claimed that he crossed the border by accident after making a wrong turn out of a parking lot in San Ysidro.

But if the trial goes on, that question will be very much at issue. To find Tahmooressi guilty, the judge will have to determine that he intended to break the law by bringing military-style weapons and ammunition into Mexico, which has strict anti-gun laws.

In May, sources showed the arrest video to a reporter for Tijuana’s fearless weekly magazine Zeta.

In a story headlined “Ex-Marine did not enter Mexico by mistake,” Ines Garcia Ramos reported that around 10:30 p.m. on March 31, as Tahmooressi began to drive into Mexico, border officers who noticed a mattress and other large items in his truck waved him over to an inspection area, where his weapons were discovered during a search. Contrary to his assertion that he stopped to ask how to return to the U.S., she wrote, he appeared to be driving away from the border. (After his guns were discovered, he called 911, telling an American operator he had crossed the border “by accident … and they’re trying to take my guns from me.”) (LA Times)

You can read more at the link, but before Tahmooressi drove into Mexico he walked across the border earlier in the day and checked into a hotel. So if he had no intention of driving into Mexico then why did he check into a hotel and then go back to get his truck?

I am surprised this is actually considered illegal:

Image via Flickr user AnsanAnswers.

The former and current executives of Homeplus, the local discount chain owned by U.K. retailer Tesco, were slapped with a travel ban yesterday over allegations that customers’ personal information collected during in-store prize giveaways was sold to insurance companies.

The revelation dealt a further blow to the chain that is already beset by strained relations with its union, slumping sales and a separate scandal surrounding a giveaway event.

A joint investigation team of prosecutors and the government imposed travel bans on Lee Seung-han, the former CEO, and incumbent Do Sung-hwan, alleging that top-management involvement led to the sale of personal data.

The investigation team specializing in personal data leak cases said the retailer allegedly collected data from 2.5 million people over the past five years through registration forms for prize giveaways and sold it for about 4,000 won ($3.80) per person to multiple insurance companies.

Authorities say Homeplus may have pocketed a total of 10 billion won from the sales.  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link, but this is basically what Facebook does selling people’s data to advertisers and most people do not even realize it.  What probably is illegal about what Homeplus did was that they did not have a disclaimer to warn the customers their data may be used to be sold to advertisers.  The fact that the raffel was also tampered with to select an employee’s friend to win a BMW is also very shady. 

Can’t people just keep their hands to themselves?

Two Palestine football players have been booked for investigation on suspicion of sexually harassing a female official at the Asian Games in South Korea, police said Wednesday.

The footballers, whose names were withheld, were suspected of approaching and groping the South Korean woman on Monday in a laundry room in the athletes’ village in Incheon, the host city of this year’s Asiad, they said.  [Yonhap]

The Korea Herald is also reporting that a Iranian athlete is accused of groping another Korean women as well:

The Palestinian incident is the second such case at the Asian Games, after an equipment manager for the Iranian men’s football team  was charged with sexually harassing a female volunteer at a stadium on Monday. [Korea Herald]

I wonder if the mayor of Incheon will issue a proclamation that citizens of Incheon are scared of Middle Eastern athletes like the mayor Uijongbu recently did towards American soldiers?

Talk about a bunch of hyperbole from the mayor of Uijongbu:

The Uijeongbu mayor boycotted a friendship concert at Camp Red Cloud last week after a 2nd Infantry Division soldier allegedly assaulted a taxi driver.

A second incident further exacerbated simmering resentment among local residents at what they see as a never-ending string of crimes by American soldiers, said a spokesman for Mayor Ahn Byung Yong.

2ID commander Maj. Gen. Thomas Vandal apologized in writing and in a telephone conversation with Ahn. Brig. Gen. Richard Kim, assistant division commander for maneuver, met with the mayor.

The soldier, identified by Uijeongbu police as a sergeant, is suspected of assaulting a taxi driver shortly after midnight on Sept. 2 on a road near the base’s back gate. The driver was taken to a hospital after losing control and running onto a curb. No information on his injuries was available………….

Another soldier was accused of flirting with a 26-year-old South Korean woman around 10 p.m. on Sept. 7 at Hoeryong Station, one stop from Uijeongbu, then shoving her toward a wall………………

“I wouldn’t go so far as to say people can’t step out onto the street at night. But they are nervous, and they are scared (of U.S. soldiers),” he said.  [Stars & Stripes]

So two minor drunken incidents involving US soldiers means there is a crime wave and Koreans need to run in fear of every soldier they see?  With thousands of US soldiers stationed and rotating through Korea there is always going to be crime committed by US soldiers just like there is crime committed by Koreans.  Has the mayor eliminated all crime in Uijongbu? You know how many drunken Koreans I have seen on the subway push people?  Heck how many drunk ajushis have gotten into shoving matches just on the sidewalks?  Is the mayor going to grandstand and make an issue of that?

What matters in all of this is how these incidents are dealt with.  There is no doubt that the 2ID leadership takes these incidents very seriously and will comply with the SOFA to have them properly investigated compared to if a Korean gets pushed on the subway by another Korean likely nothing would ever come of it.

It is amazing that someone would try and kill a pregnant woman over $3,000:

Jurors on Wednesday evening sentenced a Fort Bliss soldier to 30 years in prison for brutally attacking a pregnant woman last year, leaving her partially blind and with extensive injuries.

Corey Moss, 20, initially didn’t show any emotion after 210th District Judge Gonzalo Garcia announced the jury’s sentence. Jurors also assessed a $10,000 fine.

Moss will be eligible for parole after serving 15 years of his sentence. He will receive credit for time spent in jail awaiting trial.

El Paso police arrested Moss on Oct. 30 for the brutal stabbing of Rachel Poole at her Northeast home. She was eight and a half months pregnant at the time but her baby girl was born healthy.

On Monday, Moss pleaded guilty to a charge of burglary of a habitation with the intent to commit aggravated assault and opted to have a jury decide his punishment.

At the time of the attack, Poole had been using the FaceTime app on her phone to video chat with her husband, Army Spc. Justin Poole, who had been deployed to Qatar. State prosecutors said Moss attacked Poole over a $3,000 debt Moss owed to the Pooles after damaging one of their vehicles.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link, but it would be interesting to know what the background of this criminal is that was allowed to join the Army in the first place.  Hopefully the draw down will help prevent people like this from enlisting in the first place.

Two US soldiers in Italy are accused of raping and beating a pregnant prostitute:

VICENZA, Italy — Two Vicenza-based soldiers accused of beating, robbing and raping a pregnant woman earlier this month are being detained in the barracks under house arrest pending proceedings in an Italian court.
One of the men already stands accused of raping a 17-year-old girl last year in a case still winding its way through Italian courts. That soldier was not held in detention after the first reported rape in November because the judge said he was not likely to commit a similar offense, according to the Vicenza Giornale newspaper.

Both soldiers, with the 173rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, were placed under “house arrest” this month in their barracks at Caserma Del Din by order of an Italian magistrate, said Maj. Mike Weisman, a unit spokesman.
“The two soldiers are under continuous military supervision and are subject to inspections at any time from Italian law enforcement or judicial authorities,” Weisman said.
According to accounts in the Italian press, the two men raped, beat and robbed a 24-year-old Romanian woman, who allegedly sometimes worked as a prostitute, after first agreeing to pay her for sex. According to the accounts, she was six months pregnant. [Stars and Stripes]

You can read more at the link.