SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) — A Navy lieutenant with Utah ties who was imprisoned in Japan is now back on U.S. soil.
A spokesperson for the Federal Bureau of Prisons told KUTV 2News Thursday afternoon that Lt. Ridge Alkonis is now in custody at the Metropolitan Detention Center Los Angeles.
This came several hours after his family announced on social media that Alkonis had been transferred from Japanese to U.S. custody in the middle of his three-year prison sentence.
Alkonis arrived in California after serving nearly 18 months in prison for a 2021 fatal car crash in which he blacked out at the wheel, hitting and killing two people.
The lieutenant and his family said he suffered a medical emergency, and they paid restitution. But Alkonis was still ordered to spend three years in a Japanese prison.
Since then, the Alkonis family has been pushing for his release. His wife, Brittany, and her children even protested in front of the White House, which KUTV 2News chronicled in an October 2022 report.
Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and other elected officials also took up the cause. In an interview Thursday, Lee told KUTV 2News he’s “thrilled” Alkonis is back in U.S. custody, although he was sharply critical of how long it took Japan to release him.
Lee said Alkonis now needs to meet with the U.S. Parole Commission which will determine if he will be released.
“The time he served in the Japanese prison system should be more than enough to fulfill his obligations,” said Lee. “He should never have been sent to prison to begin with, and there’s certainly no reason for us to imprison him longer here.”
The Alkonis family agrees.
“We are encouraged by Ridge’s transfer back to the United States but cannot celebrate until Ridge has been reunited with his family,” they said in a statement.
It’s unclear how quickly the legal process will play out.
“We should know in a few weeks what his fate will be,” Lee said.
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