CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A year and a half ago, the Army said Alex Zwiefelhofer deserted his unit based at Fort Bragg.
Posts on his Instagram and Facebook pages show him fighting with a nationalist militia in Ukraine.
Then, last June, Zwiefelhofer was one of three Americans arrested trying to cross the border into South Sudan, presumably to fight in a civil war there.
In August, Zwiefelhofer was arrested at Charlotte-Douglas International Airport after Homeland Security officers allegedly found him in possession of child pornography.
Army officials said Zwiefelhofer was discharged so he could face those child pornography charges.
Bondswoman Karina Oganova agreed to post the $50,000 bond to get Zwiefelhofer out of jail. She said when he got out of jail, the Army was waiting and took him into custody for deserting.
But nine months later, Zwiefelhofer has disappeared again.
He was scheduled to be in court in Charlotte on Monday to enter a plea on the child pornography charges, but didn’t appear.
“I was thinking he's still in custody, and when you (Channel 9) called me first, I didn't know he missed court,” Oganova said.
Channel 9 reached Zwiefelhofer on Facebook, who said he was framed on the child pornography charges and wants to come back from California to face the charges, but doesn't have the money to get back to Charlotte.
He added, ”It's best to keep a little tight-lipped when your home country calls you a terrorist for aiding a friendly nation."
Zwiefelhofer's father, Jared Zwiefelhofer, who is a police chief in Wisconsin, told Channel 9 that he hasn’t heard from his son for several weeks and doesn't know where he is.
“To be very straightforward with you, I'm in law enforcement and I don't believe anything he tells me,” Jared Zwiefelhofer said. “I don't know what's true, what's not true. We haven't been told a whole lot from the military.”
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