BUFALO, N.Y. – A Steuben County man has been sentenced for making false statements to federal agents after he lied about being alone in a plane crash near Perry, N.Y. in 2015.
Brian Woodhams, 40, of Wayland, NY, was convicted of making false statements to a federal agent and sentenced to time served and one year supervised release by U.S. District Judge Lawrence J. Vilardo.
The crime occurred on October 31, 2015, when Woodhams was involved in a plane crash at the Perry-Warsaw Airport. A 15-year-old boy was on board as a passenger, but a flight instructor was not present, despite Woodhams’ student pilot license requiring one to be on board.
Woodhams told FAA Aviation Safety Inspectors that the boy was not on the plane, but rather his son, who claimed to have slipped and fallen after approaching the plane. He repeated this story to investigators multiple times, but evidence showed that the boy was indeed on the plane and injured during the crash.
The sentencing is the result of an investigation by the Department of Transportation, Office of the Inspector General, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge Douglas Shoemaker and the Federal Aviation Administration, Rochester Flight Standards District Office, under the direction of Office Manager Carl Kohl.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Mary C. Baumgarten handled the case, stating that since October of 2015, Woodhams held a student pilot license issued by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) which permitted him to fly an airplane with a flight instructor or by himself.
The exact criminal charges against Brian Woodhams were making false statements to a federal agent. The city and state where the crime took place is Buffalo, New York. The exact date of the incident is October 31, 2015. Woodhams was sentenced to time served, plus one year supervised release by U.S. District Judge Lawrence J. Vilardo on a date not specified in the source.
Key Facts
- State: New York
- Category: White Collar Crime
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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