Man breaks into airport and tries to steal plane — then crashes it, Florida cops say
A man in Florida is accused of trying to steal a plane from a small airport, but he only made it a few feet, a sheriff’s office says.
Two maintenance employees at Page Field Airport in Fort Myers were checking out an aviation tie-down ramp for their biweekly rounds around 5:30 a.m. Feb. 26 when they noticed a plane out in the grass, according to an arrest report from the Lee County Sheriff’s Office.
The plane was empty but off the tarmac with its door open, an officer with the Lee County Port Authority Police Department said in the report.
The left wing was broken where it had struck a nearby light pole and the front of the plane had crushed the airport’s perimeter fence, according to the report.
The employees knew the plane wasn’t where it was supposed to be and called police, officers said.
When an officer arrived, he found “the aircraft was covered in dew, and the engines were cool to the touch,” the report said.
A pilot’s operating handbook was on one of the plane’s seats, diagonal from where the pilot would sit, the officer said. When he checked the dashboard and controls of the plane, the officer saw someone had turned the engines on and pushed the throttle forward to drive off the tarmac.
Another airport employee was doing a trash pick-up around the perimeter of the airport when he saw what he thought was a cardboard box about 100 yards from the plane, according to the report.
When he picked it up, he realized it was a tactical vest filled with magazines and ammunition, the report said. Nearby, an assault rifle was lying in the grass, officers said.
Officers contacted the owner of the plane who said it was at the airport for maintenance and had been there for nine months, according to the report. The owner told officers he hadn’t given anyone permission to use the plane.
Security footage from the night before showed the plane sitting where it belonged until around midnight when a man approached the plane, according to the report.
The man, later identified as a 43-year-old, walks around the aircraft before going to another and flicking on the lights, the report said. He then came back to the first plane, opened the door and went inside, officers said.
In the footage, the tail and flaps start to move on the plane and then one of the engines kicks on, officers said. The plane turned and drove out onto the grass and out of the view of the camera, according to the report.
A few minutes later, the man is seen walking away carrying what looked like the same tactical vest later found by the fence, officers said.
Surveillance video from a nearby Circle K showed the man earlier in the day buying Fireball whiskey drinks and a beef stick before heading toward the airport, according to the report.
The rifle found in the grass was registered to the same man seen in the surveillance footage and who paid for the items at the gas station, officers said.
Investigators tracked down the man, from Fort Myers, and took him into custody. He’s charged with armed burglary of an unoccupied conveyance, grand theft over $100,000 and possession of a bulletproof vest while committing certain offenses, according to the report.
A possible motive was not released by the sheriff’s office.
Fort Myers is about 160 miles northwest of Miami.
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