Military Desertions

An Army enlistee from Los Angeles who escaped through a window in base housing and fled rather than face a second deployment to Iraq had been told that military commanders would send him into combat in handcuffs, if necessary, according to his wife and his attorney. Army Spec. Agustin Aguayo, 35, has been missing since fleeing Sept.

A 63-year-old man was arrested Friday on a charge of deserting from the Marine Corps in 1966, officials said. A warrant for the arrest of Victor Aguirre, a U.S. citizen, was discovered by a routine computer check after his car was selected for inspection as he entered the United States at the San Ysidro port of entry. Aguirre is being held without bail.

A 20-year-old soldier wanted for alleged desertion from the Army was arrested on suspicion of molestation late Tuesday night, when a Fairmount Park security guard saw the man kissing a 13-year-old girl inside a parked vehicle, police said. Police said Andy Leon, 20, of Riverside met the girl on the MySpace website and that they agreed to meet in person at the Riverside park. "A lot of law enforcement agencies are keeping an eye on MySpace now," Riverside police spokesman Steve Frasher said.

A 56-year-old deserter was given an administrative discharge Thursday and a ride to San Diego's Lindbergh Field so he could catch a flight home, a Marine Corps spokesman said. Allen Abney deserted in 1968 and fled to Canada to avoid being sent to Vietnam. Maj. Gen. Michael Lehnert decided to give him an administrative discharge rather than refer the case to a court-martial.

A 56-year-old deserter being held in the Camp Pendleton brig will probably be released within a week without a court martial, the Marine Corps said Monday. Unless more information surfaces, the case of Allen Abney, who deserted in 1968 to avoid being sent to Vietnam, will be handled administratively, a Marine spokesman said. By law, the Marine Corps cannot divulge what kind of discharge Abney will receive.

A 56-year-old man who deserted the U.S. Marine Corps in 1968 and fled to Canada to avoid going to Vietnam was arrested Thursday at a border crossing in Idaho and is being held in the brig here, Marine officials said Sunday. Allen Abney was arrested after he and his wife attempted to cross into the United States from their home in British Columbia to attend a social gathering in Reno.

A man who deserted the Marine Corps during the Vietnam War has been arrested after more than 36 years on the lam. Ernest Johnson Jr. left Camp Lejeune, N.C., in 1969 because he opposed the war. Vietnam was "a mistake from day one," he told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram from jail Friday. Johnson, 55, spent the next three decades drifting between California, Oregon, Arizona, Indiana, Michigan and Texas, where he was living with his girlfriend in Fort Worth when officials arrested him Thursday.

The Marine Corps announced Wednesday that a 65-year-old Florida man being held on a charge of deserting from Camp Pendleton in 1965 had been released from the brig at Camp Lejeune, N.C., and would be discharged without a court-martial. Marine officials had been pondering what to do with Jerry Texiero, who had deserted to avoid being sent to Vietnam. Texiero, who has lived under a false name in Tarpon Springs, Fla.

A 65-year-old Florida man who deserted from Camp Pendleton Marine base in 1965 rather than go to Vietnam is being held at the brig at Camp Lejeune, N.C., after having been turned over to the Marine Corps in December. No court date has been set for the desertion case, a Marine Corps spokesman said Friday. Jerry Texiero, who has lived under the name Gerome Conti, came to the attention of the Marine Corps' "absentee collection center" after an FBI fingerprint match discovered the desertion charge.

An Army mechanic who refused to go to Iraq while he sought conscientious objector status was acquitted of desertion at Ft. Stewart but found guilty of a lesser charge and sentenced to 15 months behind bars. Sgt. Kevin Benderman, 40, also was given a dishonorable discharge and demoted to private on the charge of missing a troop movement. If he had been convicted of desertion, he could have faced five years in prison.