Pinnacle Air Recovers Jet After Theft, ‘Joy Ride’
by October 24, 2005 12:00 am 112 views
Pinnacle Air LLC of Springdale lost a $7 million charter jet for a few hours on Oct. 8 after a 22-year-old took it for a 350-mile trip from Florida to Georgia, then took five friends for a “joy ride.”
Authorities found the 1995 Cessna Citation 7 at Gwinnett County Airport-Briscoe Field in Lawrenceville, Ga., after it was reported missing from the airport in St. Augustine, Fla.
Gwinnett County authorities arrested Daniel Andrew Wolcott of Buford, Ga. He was charged with one felony count of theft by receiving and five felony counts of reckless conduct.
Kevin Kelshaw, public information officer for the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office in Florida, said Wolcott’s charges should be dropped in Georgia, and he will be extradited within a month to Florida to face a charge of first degree grand theft, which has a maximum penalty of 25 to 30 years in prison.
Wolcott flew the plane from St. Augustine to Lawrenceville where he picked up five friends and took the plane on a brief “joy ride,” Kelshaw said. Wolcott has a commercial pilot’s license but is not licensed to fly the Cessna Citation 7 aircraft.
The 10-passenger jet received minor damage, said John George, director of marketing at Pinnacle Air, a jet charter service. The jet should be up in the air back in service soon, George said.