Former student pilot sentenced to prison for stealing plane from Perry airport
A former Houston County student pilot was sentenced Wednesday to over a year in prison for stealing an aircraft and flying it from Middle Georgia to the Carolinas, court records show.
Rufus Crane was sentenced on Wednesday after he pleaded guilty to one count of interstate transportation of a stolen aircraft. The case stems from Crane stealing a Bonanza A-36 aircraft from the Perry-Houston County Airport and flying it from Georgia to North Carolina and South Carolina on the night of May 3 into the morning of May 4, 2024.
During the flight, he turned off the transponder that could signal to air traffic control of the plane’s location, altitude and speed, according to court records.
Crane flew from the Perry Airport to JAARS-Townsend Airport in Waxhaw, North Carolina, according to federal prosecutors. Then, he stopped at a South Carolina airport for fuel. He intended to return the plane to the Perry airport, but instead made a stop at Cochran Municipal Airport because “the area was too foggy for him to see the runway at Perry airport and he could not land safely,” according to his plea agreement.
After the fog cleared, Crane returned the aircraft to the hangar, according to court records.
He was sentenced to one year and one day in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, according to court records. Crane was also ordered to pay $875 in restitution to the Perry-Houston County Airport.
