Lawyer: Marine deserter was about to surrender

Boulder County authorities deny knowing of plan

By Sara Burnett, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published November 18, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

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Photo by /The Rocky

Lance Hering's friend, Steve Powers, was convicted of misdemeanor false reporting.

Photo by Matt McClain / The Rocky

The Cessna aircraft that Lloyd Hering, 60, father of Marine deserter Lance Hering, had rented sits Monday at Rite Brothers Aviation Inc. in Port Angeles, Wash.

Photo by /Special to the Rocky

Lance Hering in an undated photo that was taken prior to his disappearance in 2006.

Photo by Special to the Rocky

Lance Hering's booking mug in Port Angeles, Wash., more than two years later.

To hear his lawyer tell it, Lance Hering knew what he needed to do.

After faking his own disappearance and living in hiding for two years, the Boulder Marine was tired, lonely and carrying a heavy conscience, his attorney said Monday.

Hering, wanted by the Marines on a desertion charge, was just days from voluntary surrender when police in Port Angeles, Wash., working off a tip from the Boulder County Sheriff's Office, arrested him and his father Sunday at William R. Fairchild International Airport, said lawyer Alex Garlin.

"This was on Lance's volition, his determination, his act as an adult, knowing that there are only certain ways he could start to get all of this behind him," added Garlin, who practices in Boulder County.

Hering, whose staged 2006 disappearance in Eldorado Canyon drew hundreds of volunteers for a massive manhunt, appeared in court Monday afternoon in Port Angeles.

His blond hair, closely cropped in the military photo distributed by police and his family, hung past his shoulders.

Hering, now 23, is charged in Boulder County with contempt of court and false reporting and is wanted for violating probation in a 2004 burglary conviction.

The Marine Corps also has a warrant out for him for desertion and has placed a no-bond hold on his release.

His father, Lloyd Hering, 60, was arrested on suspicion of misdemeanor aiding and abetting but was released Monday pending a decision on whether to charge him, Port Angeles Deputy Police Chief Brian Smith said.

Lloyd Hering, a pilot, was refueling a Cessna plane he had rented from a Longmont aviation company, and his son was saying goodbye to an unknown woman when the two men were arrested, authorities said.

Police declined to say where father and son were headed.

It was still unclear late Monday whether Lance Hering, who is fighting extradition to Colorado, will face charges in Boulder first or be picked up first by the Marines.

Also unknown was where Lance Hering lived for the past two years, how he got money to survive, and why he deserted weeks before he was to return to Camp Pendleton and then another tour in Iraq.

"I would hope that he would tell the truth and kind of settle this all once and for all, but that hasn't been the case so far," said Boulder County Sheriff's Cmdr. Phil West, who was unaware of any plan for Hering to turn himself in.

"We'll see if time has persuaded him that he needs to be more forthcoming."

Hiking accident

On Aug. 30, 2006, Steve Powers, Lance Hering's friend, told police he and Hering had been hiking and climbing in Eldorado Canyon when Hering fell and suffered a head injury. Powers said he went to get help and that when he returned, Hering was gone.

About a week later, Powers admitted he had made up the story to help his friend, whom he said was afraid to return to his unit because he had seen his fellow Marines commit a homicide - an assertion the Marine Corps said was unfounded.

Police later said they had video footage of Hering getting on a Greyhound bus at the station in downtown Denver.

In an interview with KOA 850 radio several months later, Lloyd Hering and his wife, Elynne, said they were terrified for their son.

"He was alone and lost and running," Lloyd Hering said. "It wasn't pretty."

Police said Lance Hering used an alias to book the ticket but did not disclose where he was heading, although reports soon surfaced that he had been sighted in Iowa.

Lloyd Hering told the radio station he dropped everything and went to a small Iowa town - the location was not revealed - where he handed out fliers and talked to people who said they had seen his son.

Some said they spotted him keeping warm in the library. Others saw him buying food or a pair of pants. He last was seen walking on the main road out of town, Lloyd Hering said.

Desperate to hear from their son, the Herings created a Web site, where they posted messages in hopes their son would read them and call or come home.

"Any scrap of communication would be priceless," Lloyd Hering wrote in one. "I may not know where prayer goes, but I pray for you all day, every day."

'Terrible thing'

Boulder County officials believed Hering had left on his own and wasn't in danger or a danger to others, so the case became a low priority, West said.

No surveillance was conducted, and contact with Hering's family was "infrequent."

A detective was assigned to the case, but his job was mainly to take calls of reported sightings.

"It wasn't something we were putting a lot of effort into," West said.

In July 2007, a Marine Corps investigator said he believed that Hering might be hiding at his parents' house. The investigator, with Boulder police and sheriff's deputies, searched the family home but found nothing.

Then two months ago, Boulder County got an anonymous tip from someone who reported seeing Hering camping in Olympic National Park, just outside Port Angeles.

They notified officials there, who searched the area but did not find him.

"Nothing came of it at the time, but now in light of his arrest in Port Angeles, it seems like it was probably pretty accurate information," West said Monday.

Neither West nor Sheriff Joe Pelle would reveal any information about the final tip, which led to Sunday's arrest at the airport in Port Angeles.

"We have to protect our source," Pelle said.

Authorities also would not comment on Lloyd Hering's involvement or when they believe he first was in contact with his son.

But Garlin said any suggestion Lloyd Hering might have been helping his son flee again is "preposterous."

"Whatever the whole narrative is that emerges ultimately, this has been a terrible, terrible thing," he said.

Staff writers Alan Gathright and Kevin Vaughan contributed to this story.

Timeline of the Hering case

* Aug. 30, 2006: Steve Powers tells police at 5:13 a.m. that his friend, Lance Hering, hit his head while they were hiking in Eldorado Canyon State Park. When search crews return to the spot of the alleged accident, they find only blood, shoes and a water bottle. Friends and family members immediately begin posting "missing" signs and about 60 rescuers begin a strenuous search. Officers deploy five dog teams, three horses and two helicopters. After dive teams probe South Boulder Creek, Hering's parents stand before television cameras, clutching a photo of their son and pleading for help in finding him. Sheriff Joe Pelle later says detectives questioned the validity of Powers' story almost immediately.

* Aug. 31, 2006: Powers watches as officials order helicopters, fuel trucks and food from the American Red Cross.

* Sept. 1, 2006: More than 120 people expand the search to five square miles. Many people speculate that Hering has a brain injury from the "hiking accident"; others suspect he's been attacked by an animal; still others question what truly happened. The sheriff's office receives a tip that Power's story was a lie and that Hering staged his disappearance.

* Sept. 3, 2006: About 100 rescue professionals, 34 Marines and 100-plus volunteers continue the search. Hering's parents help walk the search area, but his mother passes out from exhaustion and dehydration. By day's end, officials know something is wrong and they call off the official search.

* Sept. 6, 2006: Investigators inform Hering's parents that their son's disappearance was apparently staged. Hering's parents ask the volunteers who are still looking for him to end their search. At about 11 p.m., officers arrest Powers for false reporting.

*Mid-September 2006: The sheriff's office obtains a video showing Hering buying a bus ticket at the Denver Greyhound station the day he reportedly disappeared.

* Jan. 22, 2007: Powers pleads guilty to misdemeanor false reporting in Boulder County District Court and is sentenced to two years of probation. Powers also is ordered to serve 200 hours of community service, pay the entire bill for the search and write a letter of apology.

* March 2007: Powers delivers a letter of apology to the Daily Camera in Boulder and gives new details of the elaborate hoax gone wrong.

* Summer 2008: Boulder County detectives receive an anonymous tip that Hering was seen camping outside Olympic National Park in Washington. Investigators ask local authorities and park officials to search the area.

What's next?

* Court date: Lance Hering is scheduled to appear in court in Washington state Friday morning.

* Custody: Authorities must decide who will take custody of Hering first: the Boulder County Sheriff's Office or the Marines Corps.

* Extradition: If it's Boulder County and Hering waives extradition (as of Monday he had not done so), it will take a few weeks for Boulder County authorities to travel to Washington to bring him back to Boulder.

* Warrant: If Hering doesn't waive extradition, Gov. Bill Ritter must write to the governor of Washington and request a warrant. That can take 30 to 90 days.

* Marines: If the Marines take custody first, Hering would be moved to the nearest Marine base to face a military court, where he could be sentenced to up to five years in prison for desertion.

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