Rape case against GI dismissed

[unhappycamper]

About 80 people from a Filipino community on Okinawa and their supporters gather during a July rally to demand justice for "Hazel," who was allegedly raped by Army Spc. Ronald Hopstock in February 2008. The case was dismissed Tuesday due to lack of evidence.


Rape case against GI dismissed
By David Allen, Stars and Stripes

KADENA AIR BASE, Okinawa — The rape charge that hung over Army Spc. Ronald Hopstock’s head for a year was dismissed during a court-martial Tuesday morning.

In a hearing that took less than three hours, Hopstock, initially charged with raping a Filipina bar worker in an Okinawa City hotel last February, pleaded guilty to three unrelated charges and the rape case was dropped.

The Army judge sentenced him to eight months of confinement, reduction in rank to E-1, forfeiture of all pay and a bad-conduct discharge for disobeying an order requiring him to have another soldier with him whenever he left the base, and for paying a prostitute for sex on 20 different occasions between April 2007 and Jan. 1, 2008.

Due to a pretrial agreement, the length of Hopstock’s confinement will be limited to six months.

Army Judge Col. Donna Wright also recommended the discharge be suspended.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=60964