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PROVO — A Mapleton man who claimed his plane was stolen is facing criminal charges after investigators found it abandoned at a small airfield in Nevada.
When police informed David Lawrence Reoch his plane had been found, "he did not come off as happy that his plane had been found. David Reoch acted as if he was annoyed. The officer explained to David Reoch that he did not believe his plane was stolen by some criminal going on a flight joy ride," according to charging documents.
Reoch, 57, was charged Wednesday in 4th District Court with insurance fraud, a second-degree felony; and making a written false statement, a third-degree felony.
On June 26, Reoch reported to Provo police "his 1970 Beechcraft airplane was missing from where he left it," according to charging documents. In July, Reoch provided detectives with a statement he believed his airplane was stolen. By Aug. 30 he had filed an insurance claim, the charges state.
But as police began looking into the alleged plane theft, they found "by the time Reoch reported the plane, the retention of any surveillance video was now gone," they were "informed by (Provo) Airport regulars that Reoch had been trying to sell the plane for a long time and that nobody was interested in it as it was old and in poor shape," and "the insurance company believed that the case was suspicious and that Reoch may possibly be attempting insurance fraud," according to a search warrant affidavit filed in October.
After detectives began investigating, Provo airport officials told employees to keep an eye out for the missing aircraft. On Sept. 8, police were notified that a man trying to obtain his pilot's license believed he found it. The man "was doing a cross country flight when he landed in Wells, Nevada, at a small airfield and observed the plane parked in a tie-down spot. (He) recognized the plane and photographed the tail number," according to the charges.
On Sept. 12, police drove to Wells and inspected the plane. Police say it was not damaged.
"The plane had been sitting there for so long it was covered in spiders and cobwebs. There were zero flight logs found anywhere on the plane," the charges state.
Detectives also noted in the search warrant that "the airport the plane was found at has zero security, zero fences and zero accountability.
"(The detective) found based on interviews with locals that the plane had showed up in Wells, Nevada, on approximately June 9 or 10 and sat in the spot it was in ever since that date. The few people who work at the airport stated that they never saw anyone with the plane or anything out of the ordinary. It appeared that the plane had likely been put at that specific location to hide it for unknown reasons," the warrant continued.
A technician was asked to check the equipment that uses satellite navigation to track the aircraft and found movement on June 4 at the Provo Airport and then nothing. The technician reported "finding nothing that stood out to him as damage. The tech found that the battery was seated in an unsafe manner which was obviously done by the owner, not a thief," according to the charges.
When questioned, Reoch said he did not know how his plane ended up in Wells, Nevada.
"The officer told David Reoch he did not say Wells and wondered how he knew that. David stated it was in the email; the officer told him he did not. He then stated it was in the voicemail; the officer said he did not," according to the charges.
As the investigation continued, detectives discovered Reoch had done several searches on Google Maps for Wells, Nevada, and a nearby travel stop, the charges state, as well as internet searches for "Wells Municipal Airport," "how to disable GPS tracking on Android" and "Can my phone be tracked if location services are off?" in addition to a search in September about insurance companies and payouts.
