The local police arrested 20-year-old Lance Corporal Devin Jacob Ballard at Futenma Air Station. He is accused of strangling 39-year-old Anna Yagi at a hotel in Naha, the capital city of Okinawa Prefecture. A US Marine in Japan’s Okinawa was arrested, allegedly for robbing and killing a woman. In addition, he is also accused of stealing her wallet and backpack.
The police broke the flight and brought the Americans to the US-Thailand joint operations centre. Later, they were transferred back to the aircraft carrier. His father, however, claimed that the charges were false. He claimed that his son fell ill and accidentally kicked the cop. US President Donald Trump posted about the incident on Truth Social. He wrote, “After my discussions with President Vladimir Putin, Russia has agreed to release him, very much on a Humanitarian Basis. Matthew Heath is a US Marine who was jailed for two years under the rule of former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. He was accused of being a spy and entering Venezuela illegally. Paul Whelan was arrested by Russia’s FSB state security agency.
The police got involved when locals called the authorities to report that two US service members were involved in a physical altercation near a town bar at 1:30 am. Robert Gilman, an ex-US Marine, was arrested in Russia in 2022 for allegedly kicking a police officer while drunk. He was arrested in 2020 and released in October 2022 as part of a high-profile prisoner swap. Originally, he was given a 16-year jail sentence in 2020 but was released in 2024 as part of a prisoner swap.
The local police reportedly said that it was a “minor” incident. Four years after his arrest, he was released by Moscow in August 2026 on a “humanitarian basis”. It claimed that the former US Marine was “caught spying” in Moscow.
Earlier this month, two sailors were sent back to the USS Abraham Lincoln after they were caught in a drunken brawl in Thailand.
it is not the first time American service members have found themselves in major trouble with foreign authorities While the Okinawa case remains under active investigation.
