Marine suspected of stealing car, ditching Humvee

[unhappycamper]

Marine suspected of stealing car, ditching Humvee
By David Allen and Chiyomi Sumida, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Sunday, August 10, 2008

CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa — It’s as if the Marine traded in his Humvee for a Japanese compact.

Okinawa police and military officials reported a Marine was in military custody Friday on suspicion of stealing a car owned by a 43-year-old Japanese man Thursday morning after driving a military Humvee from Camp Foster to a parking lot in the Uechi district of Okinawa City.

"A U.S. Marine Corps-owned High-Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle, also known as a HMMWV, was found unattended in a parking lot in Okinawa City around 11 a.m. Thursday morning by Okinawa City Police," Marine spokesman Master Sgt. Charles Albrecht said in response to a query.

"Camp Foster Military Police arrived at the scene at 11:47 a.m., and the unattended was removed from the parking lot at 1:45 p.m., after military police conducted their initial investigation," Albrecht said.

The manager of the parking lot said the Humvee was taking up five parking spaces, an Okinawa police spokesman said. About 30 minutes before the military vehicle was discovered, a resident of the area reported that his car had been stolen, the spokesman said.


Rest of Darwin Nominee article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=56652