A 15-year veteran Coast Guardsman who surfaced Sunday after disappearing four months ago and touching off an extensive air, land and water search is the subject of an investigation into drug use, a Coast Guard spokesman said Tuesday.
At the time of his disappearance, Petty Officer 1st Class Russell Matthews was being investigated for illegal use of drugs, specifically marijuana, said Coast Guard spokesman Chief Warrant Officer Gene Maestas. Illegal drug use is an offense that could result in a Coast Guard member’s discharge.
Matthews turned up at about 7:30 p.m. Sunday, police said in a CrimeStoppers bulletin issued Tuesday.
The father of two showed up at his wife’s North Shore home but did not live there, Maestas said.
"I don’t know where he has been" for the last four months, Maestas said, adding that it is part of an ongoing investigation.
He is not aware of any sightings of the man whose photo had been splashed across TV newscasts and newspapers in October. Local, state and federal agencies searched extensively for him.
Police reportedly received a tip at about 1:30 a.m. Monday that Matthews was at his wife’s North Shore home. They picked him up and took him to Castle Medical Center for observation, Maestas said.
Police said Matthews appeared disoriented.
At the time of his disappearance, Matthews was reportedly distraught, and was last seen Oct. 9 in Pupukea, police said. Police found his car abandoned at a Kaena Point parking lot.
Maestas said he has no evidence whether any mental, physical or medical condition had anything to do with his disappearance.
On Monday, Matthews called the Coast Guard at 10:30 a.m. to notify his command that he was at the hospital after police brought him there.
The Coast Guard sent two command staffers and an investigative service agent, who conducts internal and external investigations into law enforcement matters, to verify it was Matthews, Maestas said.
Upon his request, Matthews was transferred to Tripler Army Medical Center, where he is undergoing a medical evaluation.
He had been stationed at U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Barbers Point since 2007, Coast Guard officials said.
The search by Coast Guard, Honolulu Police and Fire departments, the Navy, the city Ocean Safety division and the state Department of Land and Natural Resources covered more than 10,000 miles of land and sea for the 36-year-old.
Maestas did not know the cost of the search for Matthews, which started the evening of Oct. 9 and ended Oct. 13.
"In my 28 years of Coast Guard experience, this is the first time I’ve come across a case like this," Maestas said.
