By Ryan McBride 
The Westerly Sun
January 16, 2004

RICHMOND - Rhode Island State Police have released a local U.S. Army soldier Shawn P. Gould after arresting him Tuesday on a warrant for military desertion, state police Lt. Armand Bilodeau said.

Bilodeau said the military issued the warrant Jan. 9 after Shawn P. Gould, 22, failed to join his unit at Fort Bragg, N. C. But Gould, who had been staying with his mother at 9 Pleasant St. while going through personal problems, turned himself in, and the military declined to seek extradition, according to Bilodeau.

"I guess the reason he was AWOL, or absent without leave, was from personal problems from a pending divorce," Bilodeau said. Gould could not be contacted for comment, and state police could not confirm his rank or duty status.

Gould Tuesday turned himself in at the state police Hope Valley Barracks after troopers informed his mother Maria about the arrest warrant earlier that day, according to police reports. He was detained overnight, and released after the Army refused to extradite him, Bilodeau said.

"He talked to people down there (at Fort Bragg) and said he would go down there voluntarily," he said. "Once the military said that they weren't going to get him, we released him," he added.

According to Bilodeau, state police policy is to release detainees when the party that brings up the charges fails to extradite.

Messages left with the public relations department at Fort Bragg were unanswered by press time.

rmcbride@thewesterlysun.com