PORT ANGELES — Lance Hering, the Colorado Marine who faked his disappearance for more than two years, told police he had planned to turn himself in before he was arrested with his father at William R. Fairchild International Airport on Sunday.
The Port Angeles Police Department released a report Tuesday containing statements from the 23-year-old estranged lance corporal that say he was on his way to see a psychiatrist in Virginia and an attorney in Texas before turning himself in at Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base in Oceanside, Calif.
Hering, an Iraq war veteran who disappeared on Aug. 30, 2006, near Boulder, Colo. — setting off the largest search in Boulder County, Colo., history — was based at Camp Pendleton.
He remained in custody in the Clallam County jail on Tuesday.
He is being held on $5,000 bail on a charge of being a fugitive from another state. He has an arrest warrant from Boulder County for violating probation stemming from a 2004 burglary conviction.
He also could face a Marine Corps court-martial for desertion.
Military desertion charge
No bail has been set on a charge of military desertion, a class C felony.
Therefore, if Hering posts bail on the civilian charge, he could remain in custody on the military count, Port Angeles jail superintendent Ron Sukert said.
Hering is fighting extradition to Colorado, which could take up to 60 days and require Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter to request extradition from Gov. Chris Gregoire.
A Gregoire spokeswoman said in Olympia on Tuesday that the governor’s office had no pending requests or files on Hering.
Hering made his first appearance before Clallam County Superior Court Judge Ken Williams on Monday. He is scheduled to reappear Friday at 9 a.m.
Hering’s father, Lloyd Hering, 60, was arrested with his son at the Port Angeles airport Sunday and cited for rendering criminal assistance, a misdemeanor.
Lloyd Hering was released by Port Angeles police Sunday and attended his son’s hearing Monday.
He is scheduled to appear in Clallam County District Court on Dec. 2.
Rented airplane
According to an arrest affidavit in the Port Angeles police report, Lance Hering boarded a white and red high-wing Cessna, rented from a Colorado charter service, with his father after saying goodbye to a woman identified in the report as Kimberly Pace of Port Angeles.
Pace was not cited.
Police made the arrest at about 1 p.m. Sunday at the west end of the runway.
Details of the arrest affidavit include:
•âÇThe rented airplane was registered in Longmont, Colo.
•âÇThe pilot, Lloyd Hering, said he was picking up his son to help him surrender to authorities.
•âÇLance Hering’s attorney, James Culp, confirmed to Port Angeles police that Lloyd Hering was in Port Angeles for the reasons Lance Hering gave police.
•âÇLloyd Hering told police that he had not seen his son in the two years since he had been missing.
However, a photo album found in Lance Hering’s bag contained photos taken in September showing Lance Hering, Lloyd Hering and Pace together, Port Angeles police said.
Officers believe the pictures were taken at the Burning Man Project, a self-expression festival on the Nevada desert.
•âÇLloyd Hering told investigators that he, his son, his son’s lawyer and a forensic psychiatrist developed a process to get his son therapy and then turn himself in.
The plan called for Lloyd Hering to fly his son to Virginia, because it’s one of the few states in which the psychiatrist could legally evaluate the Marine.
Lance Hering would then build his defense with Culp in Texas, where Culp is based.
Finally, Culp would drive Lance Hering to Camp Pendleton — on the California coast between Los Angeles and San Diego — and turn the Marine over to the military.
600 in Colorado search
The 2006 disappearance of Hering, who was on leave between scheduled duty in Iraq, led more than 600 searchers to comb Eldorado Canyon State Park for five days.
A friend, Scott Powers, told investigators that Hering had hit his head while the two were rock climbing.
The search commanded much attention in the Boulder and Denver areas, but Powers later confessed that it was a hoax.
He told authorities in Boulder that his friend feared for his life because some members of his Iraq unit were facing trial for killing an Iraqi woman.
He worried that other members of the unit would kill him if he didn’t go along with their code of silence, according to the Rocky Mountain News.
The Marine Corps has called the entire scenario unfounded.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
