Suspects Says He Thought Aircraft Was Abandoned

He wanted to plead guilty... but everything he said sounded like a case for innocence. That's the reasoning an Iowa judge used this week in failing to accept a guilty plea from John Nocero, the man accused of first degree theft for stripping parts off a disabled Piper Seneca to use for his own plane.

Nocero, a member and past officer of local EAA chapter, is accused of taking $10,000 worth of parts off the Seneca -- which, as was reported in Aero-News, was left at Waterloo Regional Airport (ALO) after an emergency landing five years ago, while owner Jerry Dwyer attempted to find a replacement engine for the stricken twin.

Dwyer became suspicious when he noticed parts of his aircraft were missing -- first an engine and propeller, then the landing gear, seats, autopilot... and then the radios, followed by the entire instrument panel.

Nocero admits he took some parts -- the engine, and the landing gear -- but he told Judge George Stigler he believed the aircraft had been abandoned, after tracing the Seneca's N-number back to now-defunct Dwyer Air.

Nocero also stated he had received permission to remove the equipment from an employee at Livingston Aviation, where the plane had sat -- an assertion Stigler told Nocero many dispute, according to the Waterloo/Cedar Falls Courier.

"I returned everything I took," Nocero told the judge, after police investigators approached him and said the Seneca's owner wanted the equipment returned. He added he then stopped removing further parts from the aircraft, as well.

With the court's denial of the guilty plea, Nocero's case returned to the court docket for a future trial. Meanwhile, airport officials just want the Seneca removed from the field.

Aviation Director Brad Hagen told the Courier the airport has been asking the owner to remove the Piper Seneca from its property for a number of years, after Livingston Air removed the airplane from its hangar in 2002 following a dispute with the owner.

Waterloo Regional has sent the owner several notices, according to Hagen, including one demanding the aircraft be removed by December. The airport then granted an extension due to the owner's ill health, calling for the Seneca to be removed within the next 10 days to two weeks.

FMI: www.eaa.org