WASHINGTON – A U.S. Navy sailor has been detained in Venezuela after traveling there unauthorized on personal business, the Pentagon said Wednesday. The enlisted sailor was detained last week by Venezuelan law enforcement, two defense officials said.
One of the officials said the sailor has been in Venezuelan custody since on or about Aug. 30.
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“The U.S. Navy is looking into this and working closely with the State Department,” the Pentagon said in a statement.
The officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to provide details not made public, referred to the State Department for an update on the sailors’ status.
One of the officials said the service member was neither on official travel nor did they have authorized leave to visit Venezuela.
On Wednesday spokesman Matt Miller said the State Department was monitoring the situation, but did not comment further.
The detention follows a similar disappearance earlier this year when a U.S. Army soldier was arrested after traveling to Russia to visit his girlfriend.
Staff Sgt. Gordon Black, 34, is still in Russia and was sentenced in June to three years and nine months in prison after his girlfriend accused him of stealing from her.
Black remains an active duty member of the U.S. Army but was placed in confined civilian authority status in May, which is a non-pay status, the Army said in a statement to the AP.
Last week, the attorney for Travis King, another Army private who fled to North Korea last year, said that King will plead guilty to desertion and four other charges and take responsibility for his conduct. King will be given an opportunity at a Sept. 20 hearing at Fort Bliss, Texas, to discuss his actions and explain what he did.
In December the United States freed a close ally of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in exchange for the release of 10 Americans imprisoned in the South American country and the return of a fugitive defense contractor known as “Fat Leonard” who was at the center of a massive Pentagon bribery scandal.
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Diplomatic writer Matthew Lee contributed from Washington.