Pilot Accused of Stalking Ex-Girlfriend from Air

[Louisiana1976]

(CNN) -- A California man was arrested on suspicion of stalking after he allegedly used his airplane to violate a restraining order by buzzing a neighborhood, police said Thursday.

In recent weeks, Concord, California, police were investigating an incident in which leaflets were dropped over a residential neighborhood, possibly by a low-flying airplane, police said in a statement.

"The leaflets referenced a specific person and contained defamatory language and racial slurs. As the investigation has progressed, it appears that the motivation behind this situation is a failed domestic relationship," the statement read.

The investigation led to the identification of a possible suspect, a 51-year-old licensed pilot. Concord police served the man with a restraining order on Wednesday, the statement said. Watch how neighbors took action »

On Wednesday evening, police received several calls from residents of the neighborhood reporting a low-flying private airplane in the area. "The plane was reported to have made eight passes over the neighborhood," the statement said.

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more...http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/09/25/california.pilot.stalking/index.html

[Hardrada]

1. Penny to Sky King, "Go fuck yourself!"

[MajorChode]

5. Wasn't Penny Sky's neice?

Are you suggesting there's another Mackenzie Phillips book in the making?

[Hardrada]

11. LOL! Yeah, you betcha.

[parasim]

2. Wow! Talk about holding a grudge.

Sheesh!

[Liberal_in_LA]

3. Yeah, and I was surprised to find out he wasn't a young guy, he's old enough to know better

[Eric J in MN]

4. No name. We need sunlight laws to force the police to release the names of the people they arrest.

NT

[MajorChode]

6. The guy's name is Tom Huey and is quite a piece of work

Apparently he's crazier than a shithouse rat.

[Eric J in MN]

10. Thank you. NT

NT

[ProgressiveProfessor]

9. It is available, they chose not to print it

After yet another well publicized but fraudulent rape charge, I can understand a media outlet not naming names until things are better defined.

[jeffbr]

7. His victim ain't young either - she's 59. He also threw ROCKS out of the airplane:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/09/25/BABN19S3AT.DTL

[ProgressiveProfessor]

8. While I do not support stalking in any way, one of the articles said the plane

was at 250 ft, well outside the 50 yard requirement. If so there are defamation and littering issues, not violation of the restraining order. Then there is the violation of aviation regulations, which is not a matter for the court, but the FAA. Regardless of the forum he is a loser.

[MajorChode]

12. The California stalking law doesn't have a distance requirement

It only requires that there be some type of court order in effect and the person is engaging in harassing behavior. So he could have been just repeatedly calling her on the phone from across the state and he'd still be violating the statute so long as a restraining order had been filed and served.

It's very difficult to estimate exact distances from the ground, which is why the FAA investigated, but as yet hasn't pursued a pilot enforcement action against him. The radar coverage in that area doesn't go down low enough.

The more interesting legal question is whether California can secure a conviction against him at all. Generally only the federal government can enforce crimes committed in the air, although there are certain exceptions.