Mikhail Sharov was sentenced to 45 days in jail.
Posted on 09/05/2002 10:11:49 PM PDT by grimalkin
Soldier's bunker unnerves police
09/05/2002
Associated Press
ABERDEEN, Wash. - An AWOL soldier apparently lived for three months in a hand-dug bunker furnished with an extensive collection of weaponry manuals, ammunition and night-vision goggles.
The discovery of the bunker in the woods of north Aberdeen unnerved local and federal authorities, but they say Mikhail Sharov, 25, broke no laws besides trespassing - for which he was sentenced Thursday to 45 days in city jail.
Mikhail Sharov was sentenced to 45 days in jail.
Sharov was also ordered to pay $2,500 in restitution and $500 in court costs, The Daily World of Aberdeen reported. He has been absent without official leave from the Army's 82nd Airborne at Fort Bragg, N.C., since December.
"It's all very concerning, but it is not unlawful to possess all this stuff," police Capt. John Green told the newspaper. "We don't know what his intent was." Police in this city near Washington's central coast discovered the bunker after receiving a tip from a bike rider who had ventured down a tiny trail. The bicyclist thought it might be a meth lab.
Investigators found stacks of how-to guides on disarming or killing an adversary and building guns and rocket-propelled grenades.
There were manuals about rifles and tips on how to be a sniper.
There was a bulletproof vest, night goggles, a Palm Pilot, cellphone, laptop computer and lots of ammunition - but no guns or illegal weapons.
There were also maps detailing locations of natural gas pipelines and electrical generation and transmission facilities in the Northwest, plus information about water management techniques.
There was a hand-drawn diagram that police took to an electronics expert, who determined it was a design for a triggering device. In a butter cookie tin, Sharov had all of the pieces to build such a device.
"It could be a triggering device to turn on a lamp or ... to set off a bomb. No one knows," Green said.
Agents from the FBI and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms interviewed Sharov in jail Tuesday and searched the bunker, but neither agency indicated any charges would be filed.
Sharov built a bunker into a city-owned hillside.
"No explosives or precursor chemicals were found," said ATF spokeswoman Martha Tebbenkamp. "They located manuals about creating explosive devices, but other than that, there was nothing of interest. He did not do anything in violation of our explosive laws or regulations." The 50-foot-long bunker, dug into a hillside on city property, had a 12-foot by 12-foot bedroom, kitchen area, sunken living room and 7-foot-high ceilings. It was supported by birch logs notched together.
Police found Sharov there and arrested him last week for trespassing. He pleaded guilty.
"All he said is that he was between jobs, and that's why he built the bunker," Green said.
The Army was notified and provided a bus ticket to North Carolina. But police said Sharov told them he doesn't plan to go back to Fort Bragg, and will probably head next to California.
Sharov declined to be interviewed by The Daily World.
He clearly "is very intelligent and very capable," said Detective Jon Hudson. Born in Russia, Sharov moved to the United States with his parents when he was 14 and graduated from high school at 16 in Virginia.
By 18, he had earned a computer science degree and a minor in chemistry from Radford University in Virginia. He worked for a small computer company, then was with Microsoft for a couple of years before joining the Army, the newspaper said.
His parents live near Baltimore and work as research biologists at the Institute on Aging at Johns Hopkins University.
Police aren't sure why Sharov chose Aberdeen and he didn't offer an explanation, Green said.
Sharov reportedly told police he agreed with many of the beliefs of the Unabomber, Theodore Kaczynski. Still, he also said he didn't believe in using bombs to get his point across.
Kaczynski pleaded guilty in 1998 to three mail bomb murders and 23 nonfatal mail bombings he said were part of an anti-technology campaign. He is serving a life sentence.
About eight years.
from the story...
"The Army was notified and provided a bus ticket to North Carolina. But police said Sharov told them he doesn't plan to go back to Fort Bragg, and will probably head next to California. "
LOL...
Well, there is a Ft Bragg in California, also, so maybe he'll end up accounted for after all.
That's what I thought at first too.Where does he get off saying he doesn't plan on going back to Fort Bragg?Oh and wonderful, send him here to California. Great, just what we need.more 'Loonies' invading our state.
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