Trevor Jacob Gets Jail Time

[GeeBee]

It was not the media. It was the DOJ’s own account that they released. You are convicted of what they can prove, beyond reasonable doubt.

[midlifeflyer]

3 hours ago, GeeBee said:

I am going by the press release which said, "

"Jacob pleaded guilty on June 30 to one count of destruction and concealment with the intent to obstruct a federal investigation."

It is my understanding lying is different than destruction and concealment. Maybe I am wrong, but lying is usually "obstruction" or perjury. What you quote above is true, but that is not what he pleaded.

 

Sigh. Some people go by their interpretation of press releases and some by the official court record. We'll get to exactly "what he pleaded to" in a moment.

The statement in the press release is accurate. He did "plead[] guilty on June 30 to one count of destruction and concealment with the intent to obstruct a federal investigation." You are insisting that the only investigation was the NTSB and "The FAA has nothing to do with this case."

The plea was under a plea agreement he signed April 25 , which filed with the Court May 10, the same day as the one-count Information he ultimately pleaded guilty to. That combination is not unusual. Just means that the charge itself was negotiated. Sometimes there's a preexisting Indictment; sometimes not. 

Obstruction is indeed often lying. He did that too, but obstruction can take various forms. There's a small series of federal criminal statutes covering different types in Chapter 73 of the US Code ("Obstruction of Justice").   The one Trevor was charged with and pleaded to was: 

============================== 

18 U.S. Code § 1519 - Destruction, alteration, or falsification of records in Federal investigations and bankruptcy

Whoever knowingly alters, destroys, mutilates, conceals, covers up, falsifies, or makes a false entry in any record, document, or tangible object with the intent to impede, obstruct, or influence the investigation or proper administration of any matter within the jurisdiction of any department or agency of the United States or any case filed under title 11, or in relation to or contemplation of any such matter or case, shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both.

============================== 

Specifically, he pleaded to a charge that he:

"knowingly altered, destroyed, mutilated, concealed, and covered up a tangible object, namely, a Taylorcraft BL-65 aircraft with Civil Registration Number N29508, with the intent to impede, obstruct, and influence the investigation and proper administration of a matter within the jurisdiction of the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration..."

According to the plea agreement, both the NTSB and the FAA conducted investigations. The NTSB began its investigation November 26, 2021 when Jacob complied with (not violated) NTSB 830 - he was the one who notified the NTSB of the crash. Then "On or about November 29, 2021, the Federal Aviation 4 Administration ("FAA"), an administration in the United States Department of Transportation, also launched an investigation into the November 24, 2021, crash of defendant's airplane."

 

[GeeBee]

I think we are saying the same thing but in a way past each other. He admitted and was found guilty of acts of destruction and secreting of the destruction, but he was not convicted of lying. Did he lie? Without a doubt, but without recorded evidence and just the word of FAA inspectors a trial of that charge would not really further the case. As I said, “you are convicted of what they can prove” and they could easily prove the destruction and disposal with the physical. The verbal was a higher mountain not worth the climb. 

[midlifeflyer]

54 minutes ago, GeeBee said:

I think we are saying the same thing but in a way past each other. He admitted and was found guilty of acts of destruction and secreting of the destruction, but he was not convicted of lying. Did he lie? Without a doubt, but without recorded evidence and just the word of FAA inspectors a trial of that charge would not really further the case. As I said, “you are convicted of what they can prove” and they could easily prove the destruction and disposal with the physical. The verbal was a higher mountain not worth the climb. 

No evidentiary or proof issue at this point. A plea agreement like this will limit itself to a one count Information, even if they might charge other offenses. Happens every day. Various strategic and tactical reasons from both the prosecution and defense side   Jacob agreed he lied. They’d probably allege more if it were contested.

Just using my background to explain the  official record. BTDT. Consider it Civics 301.

[ZuluZulu]

10 hours ago, ArtVandelay said:

He posted a video bragging about getting his license back and only doing 6 months in prison. Probably getting more clicks. Here’s a link, I didn’t watch it as I refuse to reward stupidity.

 

Embedding the video helps him get more clicks...

[GeeBee]

16 hours ago, midlifeflyer said:

No evidentiary or proof issue at this point. A plea agreement like this will limit itself to a one count Information, even if they might charge other offenses. Happens every day. Various strategic and tactical reasons from both the prosecution and defense side   Jacob agreed he lied. They’d probably allege more if it were contested.

Just using my background to explain the  official record. BTDT. Consider it Civics 301.

Trust me, I've had my civics lesson from the same US Attorney (Central CA)  40 years ago when he tried to charge me with conspiracy for flying the company airplane with the boss aboard to a meeting where an alleged environmental violation occurred at Lake Tahoe. That turned out to be a bust for them because the Grand Jury told him to pound sand in my case.  I used to innocently think prosecutors did not waste their time charging innocent people, or charging people with more crimes than they actually did.  Equally so I was picked to serve on a state Grand Jury about 20 years ago. The crap that was paraded before us shocked me to the core. There was attempts as in my case to ruin innocent people's lives by shoving them into the system on bogus charges just to get at somebody else.  In the past years with the abuse of the FISA court along with an entire hoax ran through the same court, and with my personal experiences I've learned personally and up close to only believe what is proven in front of a jury or admitted by the defendant. I am not defending Trevor Jacob, he did a bad thing but I will not attribute to him, things he did not admit to, or the prosecutor did not prove. If a prosecutor wants to allege more, prove it otherwise they need to STFU. That is the way our founders envisioned it to work. Silly me, I actually believe in the Bill of Rights

[N9201A]

We will find out soon enough because the case is going to come outside of the FAA and into public record. Personally I think the person who reported him knows someone. I think once this case comes out from the internal FAA arbitration one of two things will happen, either Trent is a complete liar or grossly misrepresenting what he did... OR the FAA is incompetent.

Your point is quite valid however.

He’s already proven he’s a liar…

[201Steve]

On 12/5/2023 at 1:40 PM, EricJ said:

Every time I see Trent talk about how badly he's being treated a little more comes out that makes me think maybe he's really being treated fairly.   He only tells his side, which just seems to sound worse as time goes on (to me, anyway).

I talked to a FSDO guy about it last year and without actually telling me anything specific he basically said, there’s more to the story. Implying it wasn’t just an innocent inspection overpass. We’ll see

[201Steve]

On 12/5/2023 at 1:40 PM, EricJ said:

Every time I see Trent talk about how badly he's being treated a little more comes out that makes me think maybe he's really being treated fairly.   He only tells his side, which just seems to sound worse as time goes on (to me, anyway).

I talked to a FSDO guy about it last year and without actually telling me anything specific he basically said, there’s more to the story. Implying it wasn’t just an innocent inspection overpass. We’ll see

[201Steve]

On 12/5/2023 at 1:40 PM, EricJ said:

Every time I see Trent talk about how badly he's being treated a little more comes out that makes me think maybe he's really being treated fairly.   He only tells his side, which just seems to sound worse as time goes on (to me, anyway).

I talked to a FSDO guy about it last year and without actually telling me anything specific he basically said, there’s more to the story. Implying it wasn’t just an innocent inspection overpass. We’ll see

[201Steve]

On 12/5/2023 at 1:40 PM, EricJ said:

Every time I see Trent talk about how badly he's being treated a little more comes out that makes me think maybe he's really being treated fairly.   He only tells his side, which just seems to sound worse as time goes on (to me, anyway).

I talked to a FSDO guy about it last year and without actually telling me anything specific he basically said, there’s more to the story. Implying it wasn’t just an innocent inspection overpass. We’ll see

[midlifeflyer]

1 hour ago, 201Steve said:

I talked to a FSDO guy about it last year and without actually telling me anything specific he basically said, there’s more to the story. Implying it wasn’t just an innocent inspection overpass. We’ll see

We might never know. 

[EricJ]

2 hours ago, 201Steve said:

I talked to a FSDO guy about it last year and without actually telling me anything specific he basically said, there’s more to the story. Implying it wasn’t just an innocent inspection overpass. We’ll see

One of the things that has come out along the way is that he was apparently talked to by the FAA about some "water skiing" incidents previously, and was already on their radar about that and potentially other issues.   So, yeah, I've been getting the impression that there's been more to it than just what he's been saying.   Time will tell.  

[DXB]

Sounds like he gets a temporary license while the FAA "considers" his application for re-instatement as part of their routine due process - which sounds more generous than I would expect from that particular federal bureaucracy.  I suspect most pilots would agree he does not deserve to fly again ever.  

https://www.businessinsider.com/youtube-pilot-crashed-plane-for-views-allowed-fly-again-faa-2023-12#:~:text=The Federal Aviation Administration confirmed,earlier this week for his

[whiskytango]

On 12/6/2023 at 7:21 AM, ArtVandelay said:

He posted a video bragging about getting his license back and only doing 6 months in prison. Probably getting more clicks. Here’s a link, I didn’t watch it as I refuse to reward stupidity.

 

I am surprised that YouTube does not block posts by content creators who used YouTube to monetize activities that resulted in criminal behavior.  Like @ArtVandelay, I certainly will not give him any clicks.

[201Steve]

24 minutes ago, whiskytango said:

I certainly will not give him any clicks.

There’s really nothing entertaining about watching some idiot jump out of a perfectly operable airplane. If it were an actual emergency there would be quite a bit of curiosity, how things were handled, good learning moments, etc but being that we all know it’s fake, there’s literally nothing entertaining nor useful about it.