AWOL Soldier Found Living In Underground Bunker
The Associated Press
September 5, 2002
ABERDEEN, WA -- A soldier, absent without leave from the Army's 82nd Airborne Division, has apparently lived three months in an elaborate underground bunker he dug on city property in Aberdeen.
25-year-old Mikhail Sharov is scheduled for sentencing this afternoon on a city trespassing charge.
Police discovered the bunker after receiving a tip from a bike rider who noticed a pipe protruding from the ground. He heard banging noises and suspected he had stumbled across a meth lab.
The bunker, dug into the side of a hill, contained stacks of books on how to disarm or kill an adversary, and how to build 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 maps detailing locations of natural gas pipelines and electrical generation and transmission facilities in the Northwest, plus information about water-management techniques.
"It's all very concerning, but it is not unlawful to possess all this stuff, " said Aberdeen Police Captain John Green.
Agents from the FBI and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms interviewed Sharov in jail Tuesday and searched the bunker, but Green says neither agency indicated any charges would be filed.
Sharov, arrested in his bunker last week for trespassing, has pleaded guilty in Municipal Court. He could be sentenced to up to 90 days in jail.
Says Green, "All he said is that he was between jobs, and that's why he built the bunker."