LV Marine facing charges after story of action in Iraq

Jace Radke

Monday, Jan. 12, 2004 | 8:41 a.m.

A Las Vegas Marine has been charged with making false statements to military officials, who were investigating a yarn he spun to a newspaper.

Gunnery Sgt. Gus Covarrubias, 39, made the false statements after saying he shot an Iraqi soldier twice in the back of the head and killed another enemy soldier after an attack on his unit in Baghdad last year.

The Naval Criminal Investigative Service has made the charges against Covarrubias, based on comments he made when he was asked about the validity of his story, said Capt. Jeff Poole, a public affairs officer for Marine Forces Reserve headquarters in New Orleans.

"The charges stem from statements Gunnery Sgt. Covarrubias made to military officials while being questioned about the validity of a story he told to a reporter after returning from duty in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom," according to a statement released by Poole.

A date for an Article 32 hearing to determine if Covarrubias will face a court-martial has not yet been scheduled, but will be held at the Marine Corps Combat Center in Twentynine Palms, Calif., about 177 miles southwest of Las Vegas.

Covarrubias was notified of the charges Thursday night and remains on active duty with Fox Co., 2nd Battalion, 23rd Marines. The unit is part of the 4th Marine Division and is based in Las Vegas.

Covarrubias could not be reached for comment, and calls to a number listed in his name rang to a disconnected number.

The Naval Criminal Investigative Service opened an investigation into whether or not Covarrubias committed war crimes after a story ran in the Las Vegas Review-Journal in April.

Covarrubias, a member of the weapons platoon of Fox Co., a reserve unit made up of Marines from Nevada and Utah, was one of nine Marines wounded in a firefight while moving from building to building in Iraq on April 8.

Covarrubias suffered a concussion when a rocket-propelled grenade exploded near him and other troops. After the fighting Covarrubias told the newspaper he took his pistol and went in search of the Iraqi soldier who fired the grenade.

He reportedly found an Iraqi Republican Guard member in a nearby house with a grenade launcher next to him. Covarrubias ordered the Iraqi soldier to stop and turn around, before shooting him twice in the back of the head, according to the newspaper account.

Covarrubias then reportedly tracked and killed another Iraqi soldier and returned to his unit with the dead men's identification tags

He also reportedly took a Republican Guard beret, and a bayonet along with the identification tags.

Covarrubias also told the newspaper he had served as a sniper, registering more than 30 kills during the first Gulf War.

All of Covarrubias' statements will be examined at the Article 32 hearing, Pool said.