Bowe Bergdahl, the Army soldier-turned-prisoner who was released by the Taliban after President Barack Obama released five terrorists from the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, was unexpectedly spotted at a California marijuana farm this week.
According to the Anderson Valley Advertiser, a small weekly in northern California, Bergdahl’s presence at a Mendocino County weed farm was first noticed by law enforcement officers during a drug bust on the property:
BOWE BERGDAHL, the once-missing U.S. soldier in Afghanistan released in a prisoner exchange and later accused of desertion, was an unexpected visitor in Mendocino County this week. He was visiting old friends when the local dope team arrived on a marijuana raid. Bergdahl, who is awaiting military court martial, had an Army pass allowing him to be in Mendocino County. He apparently had no connection to the dope grow. Still military authorities were notified, and after calls “all the way up to the Pentagon,” he was turned over a military escort who came to Ukiah to fetch him.
BERGDAHL had arrived last Friday at the remote property 7 miles northeast of central Redwood Valley, and was scheduled to return to the East Coast on Wednesday. He was not arrested. At the Pentagon’s request, the combat veteran was transported by the Sheriff’s Department to Santa Rosa where he was met by an Army major who was to accompany Bergdahl to his duty station near Washington.
The Army officially charged Bergdahl with desertion last March. He is currently awaiting trial.
According to multiple men who served in Bergdahl’s platoon, he was captured by the Taliban after deliberately deserting his post and his fellow soldiers in Afghanistan. The terms of his release were highly controversial. The Obama administration agreed to release five terrorists in exchange for Bergdahl’s release, and despite laws requiring disclosure of the deal to Congress, the White House never notified Congress of the terms of the deal prior to Bergdahl’s release.
If convicted of desertion, Bergdahl could potentially spend the rest of his life in prison.
