Latter-day Saint Navy officer jailed in Japan transferred to US custody, family says

WASHINGTON — A United States Navy officer jailed in Japan over a car crash that killed two Japanese citizens has been transferred into U.S. custody and is being returned his home country, his family said Thursday.

Lt. Ridge Alkonis had been serving a three-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to the negligent driving deaths of a woman and her son-in-law in May 2021. His family has said the crash was an accident, caused when he lost consciousness while returning from a trip to Mount Fuji, but Japanese prosecutors maintained that he fell asleep while drowsy and shirked a duty to pull over.

"After 507 days, Lt. Ridge Alkonis is on his way home to the United States. We are encouraged by Ridge's transfer back to the United States but cannot celebrate until Ridge has been reunited with his family," the family, based in Dana Point, California, said in a statement to the Associated Press, adding that it appreciated the U.S. government's efforts to effect the transfer.

The Alkonis case had generated substantial publicity over the last year and a half, with his family rallying outside the White House and in Salt Lake City to call for his release and his wife, Brittany, meeting and embracing President Joe Biden, who raised the case during a May meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. Utah's Sen. Mike Lee has been vocal about getting Alkonis home and gave Japan a deadline to return him.

Lee celebrated the return of Alkonis on Thursday, but remained critical of the Japanese government for not meeting the earlier deadline he asked for.

"After months of persistent negotiations and advocacy, we have succeeded: Lt. Ridge Alkonis is coming home to the United States," Lee said in a social media post. "While I am grateful to everyone who aided our efforts to secure his transfer, it is now incumbent on the Biden Administration to ensure Lt. Alkonis immediately receives an impartial review by the U.S. judiciary. The DOJ must act swiftly to correct this injustice, ensuring Lt. Alkonis can celebrate the holidays with his family, free from the shadow of an unjust conviction."

In an interview with KSL NewsRadio's "Inside Sources with Boyd Matheson," Lee called Alkonis a "hero" and "expert in his field." He praised U.S. ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel, saying although the two come from "very different ends of the political spectrum," Lee now considers him a friend.

"He's been an absolute champion in helping to get Ridge out of there and I comment him for that," the senator said.

"There's no reason why this should take this long," Lee added. "This is why I continue to be very frustrated with the Japanese government."

Lee said he spoke with the Alkonis family Thursday morning, and said Alkonis' wife is "in good spirits" but remains apprehensive about what will come next.

Alkonis is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He took a Bible and Book of Mormon with him when he reported to the Japanese prison in July 2022, and he and his family said they have relied on their faith for peace and hope.

Family and friends said Alkonis is a good officer, remarkably kind man and loving young father who interrupted his education at the U.S. Naval Academy, where he was a left-handed pitcher on the baseball team, to serve a two-year religious mission to Japan for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Alkonis had served in Japan for seven years for the Navy, speaks Japanese and his family said he had loved his time in the country and among its people.

It was unclear where in the U.S. Alkonis was heading or whether upon his arrival he might be required to spend additional time behind bars under the terms of his transfer from Japan.

"When the Biden administration is presented with the complete set of facts and circumstances surrounding the case, we're confident they will promptly recognize the absurdity of Ridge's conviction," the family said. "We trust that the (Department of Justice) will urgently wish to end this travesty of justice by immediately releasing Ridge, and we look forward to Ridge enjoying the holidays at home with his wife and children."

From February:

Sen. Mike Lee gives Japan deadline to return Lt. Ridge Alkonis

Utah Sen. Mike Lee delivered an ultimatum via Twitter to the Japanese government to return an imprisoned Navy officer to the United States.

A Justice Department spokesman referred a request for comment to the Bureau of Prisons, which did not immediately respond to an email.

Alkonis is a specialist in underseas warfare and acoustic engineering who at the time of the crash had spent nearly seven years in Japan as a civilian volunteer and naval officer.

In the spring of 2021, after a period of land-based assignments, Alkonis, a Southern California native, was preparing for a deployment as a department head on the USS Benfold, a missile destroyer.

With the assignment looming, he set out for an excursion of Mount Fuji for hiking and sightseeing with his wife and children. They had climbed a portion of the mountain and were back in the car, heading to lunch and ice cream near the base of Mount Fuji, when, his family says, he suddenly lost consciousness after suffering acute mountain sickness.

He was so out of it, they say, that neither his daughter's screams to wake up nor the impact of the collision roused him. His car veered into parked cars and pedestrians in a parking lot, striking the woman and her son-in-law, who both later died.

After the crash near Fujinomiya, Alkonis was arrested by Japanese authorities and was held for 26 days in solitary confinement at a police detention facility, was interrogated multiple times a day and was not given medical treatment or an evaluation, according to a statement of facts provided by a family spokesman.

That statement says that when American authorities arrived to take Alkonis into custody and return him to a U.S. base, he already was held by the Japanese.

He was indicted on a charge of a negligent driving, resulting in death, and was sentenced that October to three years in prison.

"The word that comes to our mind is fairness. We want him to be treated fairly for an accident," Alkonis' father, Derek Alkonis, said in an interview last year with the AP. "We don't feel like it's been that way. We know it hasn't been that way. And it concerns us that our son has been given a three-year prison sentence for an accident."

After the sentencing, Alkonis' family had sought to keep the case in the public spotlight, including by gathering outside the White House.

Contributing: Tad Walch, Deseret News

Related topics