Prosecutors, not police, decide formal charges under the Japanese justice system. (Akifumi Ishikawa/Stars and Stripes)
TOKYO — Two Marines assigned to Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni have been indicted on charges stemming from multiple thefts over the past year in Japan, according to U.S. military and Japanese authorities.
Prosecutors in “various prefectures” have charged Cpl. Malik Lewis and Lance Cpl. Damien Helms with offenses that include trespassing, larceny, attempted larceny and being an accomplice to larceny, according to an email Tuesday from 1st Marine Aircraft Wing spokesman Maj. Joseph Butterfield.
Lewis and Helms are flight equipment technicians with Marine Aviation Logistics Squadron 12, an element of Marine Aircraft Group 12, Butterfield said.
The pair are in Marine Corps custody, he said.
Lewis, 26, and Helms, 20, were indicted in March by Tokyo District Public Prosecutors on charges of trespassing and larceny, according to a document provided by a prosecutors office spokesman on Tuesday.
He declined to provide details of the charges.
Prosecutors allege the two Marines stole about $170 in cash by using a stolen key to enter businesses in Kabukicho, a nightlife district in Tokyo’s Shinjuku ward, according to a Feb. 17 news release from Iwakuni city. The alleged offenses took place between 7 a.m. and 8 a.m. Dec. 24.
Tokyo police referred the charges to prosecutors on Feb. 13, according to the release.
The pair were also indicted March 24 in Fukuoka prefecture on charges of trespassing, larceny and attempted larceny, a spokeswoman for the Fukuoka District Public Prosecutors Office said by phone on Wednesday.
The spokeswoman declined to provide details of the indictment.
The Yomiuri Shimbun reported last month that prosecutors allege the pair broke into six restaurants in Nakasu, a nightlife district in Fukuoka city, the morning of Dec. 20 and stole the yen equivalent of about $2,652 in cash.
Lewis was also indicted March 5 by the Hiroshima District Public Prosecutors Office, according to a Sankei Shimbun report last month. A spokesman for that office could not be reached on Wednesday.
Authorities allege that Lewis broke into a business in Hiroshima city’s Naka ward on Dec. 18 and stole about $1,452 in cash, according to a March 23 report in Sankei Shimbun.
He also attempted to steal items after breaking into another establishment but fled the scene after the security alarm went off, according to the report, which cited the indictment.
Police in Yamaguchi prefecture referred a case against Lewis for breaking into a business there and attempting to steal cash on the night of Dec. 18, Yomiuri Shimbun reported on March 17.
Decision on the indictment had not been made on the case as of Tuesday, a spokesman for the prosecutors office said by phone that day.
Butterfield said the Marines are “actively working” with Japanese authorities on the allegations against Lewis and Helms.
“Under our Status of Forces Agreement, the Government of Japan has primary criminal jurisdiction. We will continue to make the Marines available for all required judicial process proceedings and will closely monitor the proceedings without interfering in the Japanese judicial process,” he wrote.
AloJapan.com