BOULDER, Colo.—A Marine discharged after pleading guilty to deserting his unit was back in Colorado Saturday to face charges that he staged his disappearance during a hike in Boulder in 2006.
The Boulder County sheriff’s office said deputies returned Lance Hering to Colorado a day after a hearing at Camp Pendleton, Calif., during which he was discharged. Hering was released from the Boulder County jail Saturday after posting a $5,000 bond, jail officials said. He is due in court Jan. 8.
At a hearing at Camp Pendleton on Friday, a military judge ordered Hering to forfeit about $1,160 in pay, and he was sentenced to time already served.
His case was referred to a board that will determine his discharge status.
In Boulder, Hering faces a felony charge of failing to comply with the terms of probation from a 2004 attempted burglary charge and a misdemeanor charge of false reporting for allegedly faking his disappearance while hiking with a friend in 2006.
That summer, Hering had just returned home from Iraq and was due back at Camp Pendleton the next month to train for a possible redeployment in 2007. He never returned and went into hiding with help from a friend who told police the Marine suffered a rock-climbing accident west of Boulder and wandered away.
The friend later admitted the disappearance was a hoax—but not before hundreds of people had scoured the landscape looking for Hering. The Boulder County sheriff’s office said the search cost $33,057 and thousands of staff hours.
The Marine was found in Washington state last month and charged with one count of unauthorized absence.
During Friday’s hearing, Hering told the judge he fled the Marines because he suffered mental trauma while in Iraq. Eight Marines in his unit were killed during the deployment, dozens were wounded, and several others were accused of war crimes.
Lloyd Hering testified on his son’s behalf. He said he has learned more about post-traumatic stress disorder since his son returned from Iraq.
“I did not recognize it in myself many years ago when I returned from my service in Vietnam, and my family has paid a price for that,” Lloyd Hering said.
