Former Hyde student goes AWOL

[Ursus]

Perhaps Laura Gauld can provide him with a "character reference"...

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Accused deserter could face up to 3 years confinement
AWOL soldier to remain in Boulder jail until Army picks him up

By John Aguilar  (Contact)
Tuesday, February 24, 2009


Boulder County Sheriff's Office
Christopher Mauger's booking mug shot

BOULDER, Colo. — A man arrested in Boulder over the weekend on a charge of deserting the U.S. Army could face a punishment ranging from rehabilitation to three years of confinement, a Pentagon spokesman said Tuesday.

Lt. Col. Nathan Banks, an Army spokesman, said a decision about an ultimate sanction rests with the commanding officer at Fort Benning, Ga., where 21-year-old Christopher Mauger was in basic training before going on an unauthorized absence in early January.

"It's his call, it's his soldier," Banks said. "And it's his duty to see what punishment is due to the soldier."

He said desertions by enlistees going through boot camp are not unheard of and even have a name: Unable to adapt to military standard.

"They thought they could handle it and they can't," Banks said. "They either flunk out or they leave on their own."

Police were tipped off that Mauger could be found at an apartment building in the 700 block of 29th Street in Boulder. They arrested him there Saturday and nearly used a Taser on him when he struggled with officers and tried to run away, an arrest report stated.

Boulder County Jail staff later discovered Mauger with three pairs of panties stuffed into his shirt pocket and a woman's thong on underneath his boxers.

Mauger, whose last known address is in the Long Island, N.Y., town of Centerport, is being held on a felony warrant for desertion.

He also faces a misdemeanor charge of resisting arrest stemming from his Saturday apprehension, but Boulder County District Attorney Stan Garnett said his office will let the military deal with him first and has yet to decide whether to formally charge him in the case for allegedly resisting arrest.

"We will likely defer to the military on the more serious felony charge," he said.

Boulder police spokeswoman Sarah Huntley said investigators entered the women's undergarments found on Mauger into evidence "on the off-chance that they end up being related to another crime" or were stolen.

She said it's standard procedure to make sure the clothing isn't connected to any sex assaults in the city.

They became a part of the arrest report because Mauger refused to say to whom they belonged, Huntley said.

But she stressed that there is nothing illegal on its face about someone wearing undergarments that belong to someone of the opposite sex.

"At this point, the fact that he had women's underwear on his body or in his possession has no relationship to the arrest charge he's facing," Huntley said.

A friend from high school said Tuesday that he briefly ran into Mauger in Boulder a couple of weeks ago during a visit to town, but he said he wasn't aware Mauger had left the military.

Elliott Good, who attended private Hyde School in Connecticut with Mauger a few years ago, said he asked his friend how basic training was going at Fort Benning.

"He said 'not bad,'" Good said. "I was under the impression he took a leave."

Good said he wondered last fall whether Mauger, who enlisted in the Army in October, was making the right move.

"I knew he wasn't cut out for military service," he said.


Contact Camera Staff Writer John Aguilar at 303-473-1389 or aguilarj@dailycamera.com.

[Anonymous]

Some salient features about this story:

1a.) He enlisted of his own volition last October. Was this action under some duress?

1b.) He went AWOL in January, 3 months later. Clearly something did not work out.

2.)

Boulder County Jail staff later discovered Mauger with three pairs of panties stuffed into his shirt pocket and a woman's thong on underneath his boxers.

What to say? Must have been some party!

[Anonymous]

Klinger would have been proud. Older story here:

http://www.dailycamera.com/news/2009/fe ... d-boulder/
Police: Army deserter — wearing thong — arrested in Boulder
Officers also found him with panties stuffed in pocket

By John Aguilar (Contact)
Monday, February 23, 2009

BOULDER, Colo. — A 21-year-old man wanted by the U.S. Army for desertion was arrested in Boulder over the weekend.

In a strange twist, he was found wearing a woman's thong and had three pairs of women's underpants stuffed in his shirt pocket.

Boulder police said they received an anonymous tip Saturday that Christopher Mauger, who has a nationwide felony warrant for desertion, could be found in an apartment unit at 770 29th St. in Boulder.

Police went to the apartment around 4 p.m. and caught Mauger, who was wearing Army camouflage pants, at the back of the building trying to climb down to the ground from the deck.

Mauger — who Army officials say is from Centerport, N.Y. and was undergoing basic training at Fort Benning, Ga. — told police that he left the base while he was on leave and didn't plan on returning. Then he tried to run away, according to an arrest report.

Two officers took Mauger to the ground and told him that he would be Tased if he didn't calm down, police said.

At that point, Mauger stopped resisting and allowed himself to be handcuffed, though he continued to try to pull away from the officers as they took him to their patrol car, police said.

He was ticketed for allegedly resisting arrest, a misdemeanor, and taken to Boulder County Jail. Jail staff found three pairs of panties in Mauger's shirt pocket and said he was wearing a woman's thong underneath his boxers. He refused to tell jail staff where the undergarments had come from and why he had them, police said.

It's also not clear why Mauger was in Boulder. No one answered the door Monday at the apartment building where he was found by police over the weekend.

Edwin Fernandez-Cruz, an assistant investigations clerk with the U.S. Army Desertion Information Point at Fort Knox in Kentucky, said Monday that Mauger had been declared "absent without leave" by the Army on Jan. 7. He had enlisted in the service in early October.

Mauger had gone home to New York for the holidays, returned briefly to Fort Benning, and then left on Jan. 6 without authorization, Fernandez-Cruz said. He is a soldier with E Company, First Battalion, 19th Infantry at Fort Benning. Fernandez-Cruz said the Army put a warrant out for his arrest on a charge of desertion on Feb. 6.

He said Mauger will likely be sent to Fort Sill in Oklahoma to face disciplinary proceedings.

"They will most likely kick him out of the service," Fernandez-Cruz said.

But first, Army officials from Fort Carson in Colorado Springs will need to get Mauger, he said.

Dee McNutt, a public affairs officer with Fort Carson, said Monday they have not yet received a request from Boulder to pick up the soldier.

Mauger, who is being held at the Boulder County Jail, also faces a misdemeanor charge of resisting arrest.

Sarah Huntley, a spokeswoman for the Boulder Police Department, said she is not certain which charge will take priority.

Contact Camera Staff Writer John Aguilar at 303-473-1389 or aguilarj@dailycamera.com.

[Anonymous]

Newer story here:

http://www.dailycamera.com/news/2009/fe ... ter-today/
Army to get accused deserter today

By John Aguilar (Contact)
Thursday, February 26, 2009

BOULDER, Colo. — A man arrested in Boulder last week should arrive at Fort Sill in Oklahoma later today to face a felony charge of desertion from the U.S. Army.

Christopher Mauger, 21, was released from Boulder County Jail late Wednesday, where he had been held since his weekend arrest at a Boulder apartment complex after police received a tip that he was wanted by the military.

The Army said Mauger, a resident of Long Island, N.Y., went absent without leave in early January from basic training at Fort Benning, Ga.

Karen Connelly, a spokeswoman for Fort Carson in Colorado Springs, said that Mauger has been given a plane ticket and was told to fly to Fort Sill today. She said he is flying by himself and not in the custody of any military officials.

"Because he was a trainee, that's where he will go for out-processing," Connelly said, regarding the Army's decision to send him to Oklahoma rather than back to Georgia.

Mauger received national attention earlier this week when it was reported that after his arrest Saturday, jail officials found him wearing a pair of women's underwear. They also said he had three pairs of panties in his shirt pocket.

It's still unclear where the undergarments came from and why Mauger had them.

He still faces a misdemeanor charge of resisting arrest, but local law enforcement officials said earlier this week that they would defer to the military and let it deal with Mauger first on the more serious desertion charge.

[psy]

Boulder County Jail staff later discovered Mauger with three pairs of panties stuffed into his shirt pocket and a woman's thong on underneath his boxers.

See... it was pretty unnecessary to publish that.  I feel sorry for the guy.  So what if he wears women's underwear.  There is no need to make a national story out of that.  If they really had to mention the underwear at all they could have said it was "on his person".  They did *not* have to out him by saying he was wearing them.

They became a part of the arrest report because Mauger refused to say to whom they belonged, Huntley said.

LOL.  I friggin wonder why.

One commenter on the article said it best: "The police asked, he didn't tell."

Personally, I hope he sues the police dept for publishing such personal information.

I'd like to get the guy's side of the story.

[Ursus]

Klinger would have been proud. Older story here:

http://www.dailycamera.com/news/2009/fe ... d-boulder/
Police: Army deserter — wearing thong — arrested in Boulder
Officers also found him with panties stuffed in pocket

By John Aguilar (Contact)
Monday, February 23, 2009

A comment from the older article said it pretty well too. [Incidentally, that first article got over 130 comments! Took me forever to read through all of them... The guy's girl friend posted several times in his defense against the rabble, a local transgendered former cross-dresser weighed in with support, and towards the end, three former Hyde students even put in half a dozen comments.]

Posted by boulderconservative on February 25, 2009 at 2:15 p.m.

While I think this guy should be punished for abandoning the duty that he signed up for -- and I think that Herring got off light for the same behavior ---

What the heck does his underwear have to do with this story?
What the heck does the contents of his pocket have to do with this story? Unless it's a gun or grenade . . . who cares what is in the pocket?

Shame on the paper for reporting this nonsensical detail . . . and moreso, someone explain why the Boulder Police thought that underwear & pocket content details should be released to the public. I am sure that there are a variety of underwear/non-underwear options seen by the Boulder police so why release the details of this one? Shame on the Boulder police.[/list]