SAN DIEGO — Two Marines apparently killed one of their Camp Pendleton comrades in a dispute over stolen drug money, prosecutors said Thursday.

Lance Cpl. Christian William Carney and Pfc. Alvin Reed Lovely are scheduled to be arraigned Friday in Orange County Superior Court on charges related to the killing of Pfc. Stephen Serrano.

In a statement issued by the Orange County District Attorney's Office, prosecutors allege that Serrano and an unidentified Marine broke into Carney's room at the base on May 9 and stole drug money.

Prosecutors say Carney was dealing ecstasy and cocaine on the base.

Four days later, another unidentified Marine told Carney that he had witnessed two men, including a mutual friend, breaking into Carney's room, prosecutors said. Later that day, Carney and Lovely allegedly met Serrano's alleged accomplice and drove him from the base to a secluded location in San Clemente. They put a gun to the Marine's head and threatened to shoot him if he didn't identify his alleged accomplice in the burglary.

The man identified Serrano, prosecutors said.

Carney and Lovely returned to the base and asked Serrano to meet them, according to prosecutors. The men drove Serrano to San Clemente, shot him once in the head and three times in the back, prosecutors said.

Carney, 21, and Lovely, 20, are charged with one count each of murder and making a criminal threat. They also face a sentencing enhancement for the personal discharge of a firearm. Carney also faces a charge of attempting to dissuade a witness.

Both have pleaded not guilty.

Carney, an Iraq war veteran from Suffolk, N.Y., is being held in the brig at Camp Pendleton on unrelated drug-dealing charges after posting $1 million bond for his release from the Orange County jail, Marine spokesman 1st Lt. Curtis Williamson said. He was to be transferred to Orange County for arraignment.

Lovely, of Dallas, is being held at the Orange County jail in lieu of $1 million bail. At the time of his arrest, he was listed by the Marines as being on unauthorized absence, a step before being declared a deserter, Williamson said.

The body of Serrano, 21, of Sacramento, was found May 15 by a jogger.

It was not clear whether Carney and Lovely had been assigned defense attorneys. A message left with the Orange County public defenders office was not immediately returned, and the Marine Corps did not make Carney available for comment.

All three Marines were assigned to the 1st Marine Division.

What the hell is going on in the military? Are we taking drug dealers in now? I don't understand the low standards anymore.

Just because there are some retards in the bunch that doesn’t mean the whole military has dropped "standards". You have to remember a few do and can slip through.

Ten percent. Hope they fry.

USMC5811 I did not mean that there were low standards in all the branches, just seems that there are a lot of people that should not be in the military.

Truth be known, the standards have been dropped down a few notches and the proof is in the events of murders like the one above and the other on the right coast with that Marine and his Army wife. (the puppy thrower also qualifies in my mind)

Kinda makes one wonder how this guy paid up front on his million dollar bail? Could be from drug money?

I would say that the money is drug money from his stash.

There's a drop in standards every time we go to war. This is no different. Many of you remember draftees. THAT was some low standards. I came in in the early 80s when the last of the draftees were on their way out (and those were the draftees who volunteered to stay in). They thought "we" were the "cleanest kids EVER". Only cocaine was making it's first big scene and the services (just like everywhere else) were rife with the drug. I remember knowing Marines and hearing rumors of other Marines involved in use and sale of it.

A couple of shitheads involved here is to be expected, regardless of the standards. An entire squad involved would be an issue.....

This will highlight my point quite nicely. I'd forgotten all about this guy until a fellow Marine who served with this turd brought him up--

Serial killer Charles Ng was born in Hong Kong and partly educated in England. As a child he was harshly disciplined by his father at every opportunity. Ng eventually moved to the United States and briefly served in the Marine Corps before he was dishonorably discharged for theft of heavy weaponry and machine guns at MCAS Kaneohe Bay. He was further charged with escape from confinement and attempt at desertion, although the charge for desertion was dropped. Ng was convicted on the remaining charges and ordered to spend 14 years in a military prison. He only served a fraction of that time before his sentence was commuted and he was released in the early 1980s.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Ng

It goes to discuss his killing spree of 25 murders. His trial is still the longest and most costly in WA state history.