An Air Force captain with top-secret clearance who disappeared in 1983 has been found in California living under an assumed name, and now he's under arrest, the Albuquerque Journal reported.
Capt. William Howard Hughes drained $28,000 out of his New Mexico bank accounts and deserted the Air Force, ending up in California under the name "Barry O'Beirne," the Journal reported.
Hughes, discovered because of a passport fraud investigation, was arrested for desertion last week, the Air Force announced.
Hughes said he was "depressed about being in the Air Force," the Journal reported.
Hughes, 66, is facing 5 years in prison, forfeiture of pay and a dishonorable discharge from the Air Force, the Journal reports.
However, if an investigation finds Hughes leaked classified information - officials in the '80s initially worried he might have defected or been involved in espionage - it would get a lot worse than a desertion conviction.
Investigators with the Air Force Office of Special Investigations "said at this point there’s no indication that he had any classified information or that he gave any classified information," AFOSI spokeswoman Linda Card told the Journal. "Until we have the whole story, we don’t have the story."
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