MILLINOCKET (AP) – A Maine man accused of deserting his Marine unit after finishing boot camp was arrested this week and returned to his unit.

Peter Foster-Kinney, who is from the Houlton area, was held briefly at the Penobscot County Jail until he was returned to the Marine Corps on Tuesday. If found guilty of desertion, he could be sentenced to military prison but most cases end in discharge.

Millinocket Sgt. Aaron Booker and officer Ron McCarthy found Foster-Kinney almost by accident. The officers went to a local home to check on reports of an argument Monday and discovered Foster-McKinney was wanted when they ran a check.

“We talked to him, and because he was a face we didn’t recognize, we ran his name and date of birth, and that’s how we found out,” McCarthy said.

McCarthy, who served in the Army as an infantryman and tank driver, said desertion cases are rare. “I’ve been doing this for six years, and we’ve only seen a handful of cases,” he said. “All we do is pick them up and turn them over.”

If Foster-Kinney completed boot camp, which runs 13 weeks, he would have been given 10 days of leave before having to report to Camp Lejeune in North Carolina for combat training, said Lt. Scott Miller, a Marine spokesman at Parris Island.

Soldiers are usually classified as deserters when they have been absent without leave for 30 days and show no intention of returning, officials said.

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