Associated Press

September 08, 2006

DENVER - Authorities who spent five days searching for a Marine after a friend reported him lost in a hiking accident have arrested the friend and said Thursday they believe the disappearance was staged, so the serviceman could avoid returning to duty.

Steve Powers, 20, of Boulder, was arrested late Wednesday for investigation of a misdemeanor charge of false reporting, Sheriff's Cmdr. Phil West said. In a statement, he added that the Marine, Lance Cpl. Lance Hering, could face the same charge, and that the sheriff's department planned to seek restitution for the thousands of dollars spent on the search.

Authorities are still trying to find Hering, 21, who returned from Iraq in July and was due back at Camp Pendleton, Calif., this month.

Powers had reported that Hering fell Aug. 29 while the two were hiking and injured his head, losing consciousness in the rugged Eldorado Canyon State Park west of Boulder. Powers said he went for help the next morning, but when he returned, Hering had vanished.

The sheriff's department and search and rescue teams called off their search after five days, saying they were confident Hering had left the area.

"Essentially (Powers) was trying to keep (Hering) from having to return to service as a Marine," West said. "That's Powers' version. Powers has lied to us repeatedly, so we take what he says with a grain of salt."

West said state authorities were comparing DNA from human blood found at the scene where Hering was reported to have fallen while rock climbing to samples from Hering and Powers. Investigators have some leads into Hering's whereabouts but West declined to elaborate.

A call to Hering's parents in Boulder and messages left with officials at the Pentagon and Camp Pendleton were not immediately returned. There was no telephone listing for Powers, who was released shortly after his arrest.

Nobody answered a knock on the front door of the Hering home, in a quiet south Boulder neighborhood, where two electric candles were burning in the windows.

Hering's brother, Air Force Lt. Brendan Hering, was on leave in Colorado from Barksdale Air Force Base, La., said a man who answered a call at Brendan Hering's unit.

Hering's family has said they do not believe he is trying to avoid returning to the Marines.

"He doesn't run from his problems," Brendan Hering told the Daily Camera in Boulder for a story Wednesday. "He doesn't have any problems with the military."

Brendan Hering said that about 10 years ago, Lance Hering hit his head and temporarily lost his vision and speech. A few days later, he suffered some short-term memory loss. He said his brother could be suffering a similar injury.

Marine officials have told sheriff's officials that Hering was classified as unauthorized absent because he left before official approval of his request for leave, West said.

The Pentagon has said simple desertion has been decreasing in the military in recent years - about 2,500 troops last year didn't show up for work, down from almost 5,000 in 2001.

But groups that run the GI Rights Hotline, which helps service members interested in getting out of their required service, have reported receiving more than 36,000 calls in 2005 and about 19,000 in the first six months of this year, up from fewer than 1,000 in 2001.

"Hundreds of thousands of American servicemen and women are deployed across the world in the war on terror. By bringing hope to the oppressed, and delivering justice to the violent, they are making America more secure. "
George W. Bush

BOULDER, Colo. — A Marine staged his own disappearance because he feared harm at the hands of members of his own unit, some of whom face murder charges in the death of an Iraqi civilian, a friend who acknowledges aiding in the ruse told a newspaper.

Lance Cpl. Lance Hering "thought if he would have gone back to Camp Pendleton they would have killed him," Steve Powers told the Daily Camera of Boulder for a story published Thursday. "He was terrified."

Hering has been missing since late August, when Powers reported that he had apparently wandered away after falling while rock climbing near Boulder. After a massive manhunt, Powers told authorities he lied; he has been charged with misdemeanor false reporting.

Hering, 21, is assigned toKilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, Camp Pendleton officials said. Two members of that unit pleaded not guilty Wednesday in the April 2005 death of 52-year-old Hashim Ibrahim Awad in Hamdania, Iraq. Five others and a Navy corpsman assigned to the unit also face charges.

The Marines and the corpsman are accused of shooting Awad repeatedly and staging the scene to make it appear as if he were planting a roadside bomb.

Powers said Hering did not tell him what it was he saw that made him fear returning to Camp Pendleton in California, where he had been due to return Sept. 18.

Camp Pendleton spokesman 1st Lt. Esteban Vickers said there are policies to protect servicemembers who witness crimes.

Powers said he and Hering went to Eldorado Canyon State Park on Aug. 29 and found a place where Hering left some of his own blood to support the story Powers later told authorities — that Hering hit his head and was unconscious for hours while Powers hiked out to find help.

He said he then drove his friend to downtown Denver and returned to the state park, where he reported the alleged disappearance the following day.

"He was definitely, absolutely convinced this was the only way he was going to survive," Powers said. He said he does not know where Hering is.

Boulder County sheriff's Cmdr. Phil West told the Daily Camera his agency was still investigating and has not found Hering. He said authorities were suspicious of Powers' statements.

Hering is charged with a felony — failure to comply with terms of a deferred sentence from a 2004 burglary charge — and two misdemeanors — false reporting and conspiracy to commit false reporting.

"Hundreds of thousands of American servicemen and women are deployed across the world in the war on terror. By bringing hope to the oppressed, and delivering justice to the violent, they are making America more secure. "
George W. Bush