US Marine Suspect in Pinay Transgender Slay Faces Murder Raps

The US serviceman tagged in the killing of a transgender woman in Olongapo City over the weekend has been identified by the authorities Tuesday.

The Philippine National Police (PNP), through a memorandum, identified the suspect as Private First Class Joseph Scott Pemberton of the US Marine Corps 2nd Battalion 9th Marines.

The PNP memorandum reported that Pemberton was positively identified by a witness through a photo line-up process adding that a murder case is being prepared against him.

Pemberton is being linked to the killing of 26-year-old Jeffrey Laude inside a motel in Olongapo City on Saturday night.

On a report, Olongapo City mayor Rolen Paulino said that charges against Pemberton are prepared. He added that the court will decide based on gathered evidence.

Paulino said the local police is working with the US Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) on the case, adding that it was the police who provided the photo used to identify the suspect.

The US Embassy in Manila earlier confirmed that the serviceman, whom it did not identify, is now being held on board the USS Peleliu, one of the vessels that joined the 2014 Amphibious Landing Exercises (PHIBLEX) in Subic in Zambales earlier this month.

On Monday, Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario said the Philippines can request for the custody of American soldiers believed to be involved in heinous crimes.

Report said Laude, who used the name Jennifer, was found dead in an inn in Olongapo City on Saturday, hours after she was last seen with a foreigner.

The killing happened months after the Philippines signed with the US a new military pact that will expand the presence and role of American soldiers in the country.

Pemberton is the second US soldier to be involved in a criminal act in the country since 2005, when Lance Corporal Daniel Smith was charged and later on convicted for the rape of a Filipino woman, GMA News Online reported.

Source: GMA News Online