Spartanburg County deputies said a man working at the county's maintenance shop was wanted by the United States Army as a deserter. 
 
 Deputies said they were notified by the Federal Bureau of Investigation on Tuesday that 42-year-old Joseph Champion, who worked at the county's maintenance shop, was wanted. Deputies arrested him on a federal hold until U.S. Marshals could pick him up. 
 
 According to a letter released to FOX Carolina that was sent from the U.S. Army Provost Marshal's Office to Spartanburg County officials, Champion is considered an active-duty military member of the U.S. Army. 
 
 Mark Edwards, chief of media relations for U.S. Army Human Resources Command, said Private Joseph Champion joined the Army Reserve in Jan. 2001 and went to Basic Training at Fort Jackson, SC. 
 
 After basic training, Champion went to Fort Leonard Wood, MO, for training as a chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear specialist, said Edwards. He said while Champion was at Fort Leonard Wood, he went "Absent Without Leave" in March 2001, and was moved to "Deserter" status in April 2001. 
 
 The Army defines a deserter as, "Soldier absent without authority for 30 consecutive days." 
 
 Edwards said once Champion is processed on the deserter charge, he will be given the chance to explain his case and then the appropriate action will take place. 
 
 Spartanburg County administrator Katherine Hubbard said Champion was employed as an auto mechanic since June 20, 2005. She said his employment status is now under review. 
 
 Hubbard said the Army would have been provided info on Champion's warrant to the National Crime Information Center database that the county would not be able to access through a background check for non-law enforcement personnel. 
 
 A source told FOX Carolina that the Army was notified of Champion's whereabouts when he went to renew his license. 
 
 Copyright 2013 FOX Carolina (Meredith Corporation). All rights reserved. 

 Coast Guard officer presumed dead at sea who turned up alive months later at his home is now charged with desertion 
 
 
 
 Petty Officer First Class Russell Matthews reappeared in January after going missing three months before 
 
 Was at the center of an investigation at the time of his disappearance for alleged marijuana use 
 
 
 
 Police searched more than 10,000 nautical miles for Matthews before calling off search 
 
 By Associated Press and Daily Mail Reporter 
 
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 Mystery: Russell Matthews reappeared in January after vanishing and being declared a missing person more than three months before 
 
 A veteran rescue swimmer has been charged with desertion after he went missing for three months and triggered a massive search, the Coast Guard said Wednesday. 
 
 Petty Officer 1st Class Russell Matthews faces three other charges including being absent without leave, wrongful use and possession of a controlled substance, and causing the Coast Guard to conduct a search when there was no need, said Chief Warrant Officer Gene Maestas, a Coast Guard spokesman. 
 
 An Article 32 hearing - the military equivalent of a grand jury hearing - will be held to determine if there's enough evidence for Matthews to be tried in a court-martial. 
 
 Matthews was in the process of being discharged from the Coast Guard for illegal use of marijuana when he disappeared in October. 
 
 The 36-year-old showed up at his home in mid-January. 
 
 Police said Matthews was incoherent when he was found, and he taken to a hospital for observation. 
 
 The Coast Guard later took him into custody and had him confined at a Navy brig while they investigated why he left without authorization. 
 
 Police had found Matthews' car abandoned at Kaena Point, a remote area of Oahu next to the ocean, after his wife reported him missing. 
 
 Police at the time described him as emotionally distraught, and said his friends and family were concerned for his welfare. 
 
 Without a trace: Matthews' car was left at the remote Kaena Point in Oahu three months ago 
 
 Happy family: Matthews pictured with his first wife, Clara, and their two young children 
 
 Tragedy: Clara and her children were involved in a head-on bicycling accident in 2009 and the mother suffered a traumatic brain injury; two years later, she committed suicide 
 
 Hawaii News Now reported that Matthews lost four colleagues in a 2008 helicopter crash. 
 
 The following year, his first wife was critically hurt when she was hit head-on by a car while riding her bike. 
 
 
 
 She killed herself about two years later. Matthews vanished near the anniversary of her suicide. 
 
 
 
 Under investigation: Matthews, pictured before his disappearance, was under investigation for alleged marijuana use 
 
 'In Petty Officer Matthews' case, we certainly empathize with his situation, but we certainly do not condone his actions,' Maestas said. 
 
 Search and rescue crews scoured more than 10,000 square miles looking for Matthews. 
 
 Honolulu firefighters sent a helicopter and rescue teams to searches the rugged coastline and sand dunes near Kaena Point. 
 
 Maestas couldn't discuss what Matthews was doing while he was missing, saying that's part of the investigation. 
 
 Maestas said he didn't know if Matthews has an attorney. 
 
 
 
 He is entitled to representation by a lawyer from the Navy's judge advocate general corps if he wishes. 
 
 Matthews joined the Coast Guard in 1997. 
 
 He's been stationed at Air Station Barbers Point on Oahu for five years. 
 
 The decision to charge Matthews was made by Capt Timothy Gilbride, the station's commanding officer. 
 
 Loss: Clara Matthews suffered a traumatic brain injury following the accident and took her life two years later 
 
 Treatment: The petty officer is now being evaluated at Tripler Army Medical Center
– Veteran rescue swimmer Russell Matthews has been charged with deserting the Coast Guard, in the aftermath of a strange disappearance in which he was temporarily presumed dead. The 36-year-old was already in the process of being discharged from the Guard for illegally using marijuana when he disappeared in October, the AP reports. His wife reported him missing, and search crews scoured a 10,000 square-mile area for him, finding only his car, which was abandoned near the ocean in a remote part of Oahu. Eventually Matthews was presumed dead, according to the Daily Mail— until he turned up at his home in January, babbling incoherently. He was taken to a hospital, and then into custody. "We certainly empathize with his situation but we certainly do not condone his actions," a Coast Guard spokesman said. In other deserter news, a 42-year-old South Carolina man was arrested Tuesday after the FBI alerted local authorities that he'd been wanted for desertion by the Army since 2001, Fox Carolina reports. Joseph Champion disappeared while training to be a chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear specialist. Among other things, he might lose his job as a mechanic in the Spartanburg County maintenance shop.