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After he was shot down, Hasenfus, in the best true believer style, immediately ratted on the two guys who died in the crash, tying them to officials in the Reagan administration. For its part, the administration was doing its best to convince the public they didn't know who this guy was. He was convicted by a Nicaraguan court, then pardoned by President Daniel Ortega and sent back to the U.S. Hasenfus tried to sue the government for injuries he claimed he sustained in the crash. But wait! There's more, as this apparently wasn't the most embarrassing thing to ever happen to the luckless Hasenfus:

Hasenfus sentenced for exposing himself By LINDA SPICE of the Journal Sentinel staff

Last Updated: Nov. 2, 2000

Waukesha - Former Iran-contra gunrunner Eugene Hasenfus was sentenced Thursday to spend one year on probation for indecently exposing himself.

"I must admit this is one of the most ignorant, stupid, most embarrassing things that has ever happened to me," Hasenfus said in court before being sentenced Thursday by Circuit Judge Robert Mawdsley. "Unfortunately, it happened. I'm not trying to hide behind anyone's coats. I'm trying to be outward, laying myself on the mercy of this court."

Hasenfus exposed himself while masturbating in his pickup truck July 10 in the parking lot of Kmart, according to the criminal complaint. A shopper returning to her car told police she saw a man exposing himself.

Hasenfus told police he stuck a construction-type glove over his license plate to hide it in case someone caught him, according to the criminal complaint, but that the shopper removed the glove and jotted down Hasenfus' plate number.

Hasenfus pleaded no contest to an indecent exposure charge and was found guilty. Mawdsley imposed but stayed a 60-day term in Waukesha County's Huber facility.

Hasenfus was ordered to pay $270 in court costs, to undergo psychological evaluation, to follow any recommended treatment and to avoid contact with the woman who witnessed him expose himself and the Kmart at 18200 W. Blue Mound Road, Town of Brookfield.

A former Marine from Marinette, Hasenfus, 59, now lives in Milwaukee. He had faced a maximum sentence of nine months in jail.

A plane Hasenfus was on was shot down in Nicaragua in October 1986. He was the sole survivor of the crew but was captured by the Sandinistas and jailed for 73 days while the U.S. government denied any knowledge that he was running guns to the contra rebels as part of a CIA-directed operation.

The incident prompted a lengthy investigation into the involvement of the Reagan administration in a CIA-directed operation to arm the contra rebels through money obtained by secret U.S. arms sales to Iran.

When Mawdsley asked Hasenfus if he was receiving treatment for any emotional disorders, Hasenfus said: "My name goes back into 1985 with President Reagan and the contra affairs. I was a lone survivor of an aircraft shot down . . . and I have received a very good case of post- traumatic stress."

Hasenfus has been dogged by a series of problems - from financial woes to divorce - in recent years. In 1996, the Clinton administration rejected his claim for $800,000 for injuries he said he suffered in the plane crash. Hasenfus' wife filed for divorce in December 1998, and it was granted earlier this year.

Appeared in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Nov. 3, 2000.